MonStar
by maravelous
Summary: AU; "Would you follow me through the universe?" Insanity has never been so lovely. — ShikaTema
1. IN MIDAIR

—

She wasn't like everyone else.

Mon**Star**;

And that automatically made her an outcast.

_by mara_

Apparently she would stop in the middle of the hallway at school and just stare in front of herself, as if something was there.

**O N E** —

People always said they could see her skirting invisible holes on the sidewalk.

IN MIDAIR

Her name was Temari. She was drop-dead gorgeous, intimidating, and funny.

No one wanted her.

* * *

**Inspired by and dedicated to**;

—The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumaki, which was hilarious and adorable and fantastic in the beginning but slowly got worse.  
—The late Doctor David Tennant (RIP yousexybeast) and the new Doctor Matt Smith (LongLive yousexybeast).  
—The deprived fools who don't know what I'm talking about and obviously need to be raped by the satisfactory tentacle of erotic supersonic wonder RIGHT FUCKING NOW.

* * *

Shikamaru Nara was known as the most heartless boy in his High School.

He was a genius. With an IQ over 200 and a near perfect GPA, he was on his way to a bright future.

He was popular. He had about four close friends, and an incredible number of acquaintances that _wanted_ to be his close friend. He wasn't exactly on a jock's level, but he was pretty well-liked. He had a lazy attitude and a calm sense of humor that made teachers and students alike favor him.

And almost every girl in his grade had tried to date him, and failed right from the beginning.

There was one flaw in Shikamaru's design, and that was that he was still a virgin, and planned on remaining one 'till he died.

It wasn't anything to worry about. He sure as hell didn't like men (he'd asked a gay friend of his how he'd know, and judging by the answer he wasn't even close) but he wasn't exactly A-Sexual either.

He had his fair share of hard-on's and…_those_ kinds of dreams, all revolving around women. He even…well, he tried not to think about _that_ too much…

He just wasn't attracted to any woman, girl or _person_ he'd ever come across. He didn't even know what attraction was. All his friends were going through girls like wildfire, and each complained about the butterflies in their stomach, or their hearts breaking…

And Shikamaru had no idea what they were talking about.

After a while, it started to get tedious. Almost every girl he got to know ended up falling for him (even many that _didn't _get to know him), and each one was so disappointed when he turned them down as gently as possible, they never talked to him again.

And so it came to be that he gave up on his gentle intentions altogether and began to turn girls down very harshly and with little enthusiasm. Soon enough, his new reputation was 'heartless'.

And honestly, he could have cared less, until she showed up.

* * *

It was a **Monday** when it happened.

He ended up bumping into her in the middle of the hallway at school. He would have apologized if not for the fact that she had been walking in front of him, and just stopped abruptly, no warning or anything.

Even as he caught himself on a locker and cursed aloud in her direction, she did not look away from whatever she was staring at. Shikamaru glowered at her expectantly, and groaned under his breath, finding himself thinking, '_Please not her again…_'

It was the upperclassman who he'd been stuck with sitting next to in Physics the year before, which was practically a living hell. She didn't talk to him at all, but she still managed to be annoying. Temari, was her name.

She cautiously looked over her shoulder after a while, feeling the small stares she was receiving from passerby, and looked at Shikamaru.

"What…?" she said slowly. Her voice was deep, and musical.

Shikamaru frowned at her. "You shouldn't just stop in the middle of a crowded hallway," he pointed out. As if it _wasn't_ obvious…

She stared at him stoically. "_You_ shouldn't be so oblivious in a crowded hallway," she retorted. "Don't try to patronize me."

Shikamaru would have responded, aghast, to that, but since he didn't want to start anything troublesome he just scoffed to himself, unnerved, and watched her go.

But as he did so he witnessed something very interesting, which was really saying something considering it was _his_ interests that were sparked.

His best friend, Chouji, came running out of nowhere. Chouji was, in Shikamaru's opinion, a big guy. And usually when he got excited he seemed to forget that. He was waving some sort of progress report in the air and barreling through the cramped hallway towards Shikamaru, and as he did so, he bumped into Temari.

Temari had been slowly making her way around the edge of the hallway as if avoiding something in the middle, and now she was knocked to the side. She lifted her hand to balance herself.

And when her hand fell through the air, she seemed to catch herself on something.

Shikamaru straightened up curiously, gazing at her. It was like she was pulling the bottom part of a slit in midair down, parting the air molecules to reveal a white glare. Like a crack. In midair.

Her eyes caught his stare. They were wide, and they too turned to face the slit she'd created in the air. She slowly moved her hand up, and in the blink of an eye it was gone.

She and Shikamaru stared at each other. They seemed to be the only two that had noticed. Her lips were parted. It was as if she'd realized something. Shikamaru could almost mirror the shock and excitement in their locked gaze.

He didn't understand, what the hell was that?! It was right there, in plain view!

"Hey, look at this! Look what I got in Global Issues!"

Shikamaru almost jumped out of his skin when Chouji came swooping out of nowhere and flung an arm across Shikamaru's shoulders. Shikamaru nodded distractedly as Chouji shoved the progress report in his face eagerly.

He tried to pay attention to what his friend was babbling about, but he kept turning back to look at Temari, who was still standing in the same spot, watching him eerily. The students in the hallway passed her as if in slow motion.

She never blinked.

"Dude, are you even listening to me?"

Shikamaru gritted his teeth together and faced Chouji determinedly. He did not want _any_thing to do with her.

She was a** monster**.

* * *

Yes, Shikamaru had heard of Temari's reputation. She was rumored to be insane. Girls would tell him about her all the time:

"I saw her talking to herself in the park."

"I remember when I ran into her because she was walking in a zig-zag pattern down the sidewalk."

"One time, Temari stood up while a teacher was giving a lecture and walked over to the side of the room just to stare at nothing."

"So many boys ask her out, and she says yes _every time_, then she dumps them about a day later."

"I think it's because she's so pretty, or else they're just making fun of her, because there's no other way _any_ boy would want to go out with her, right?"

"She's insane, and everyone knows it. A real monster. I try to be nice to her, though. It's only polite."

Shikamaru wasn't one to gossip, and he didn't really care anyways.

But if there was one thing he hated even _more_ than gossip, it was getting caught in the middle of the something he had no business with in the first place.

He was _not_ going to get involved with some crazy girl.

* * *

But from that moment on, she was always around him.

He wouldn't have even noticed if it weren't for the fact that she was so pretty. Otherwise she'd be just another face in the crowd.

Another **star **in the sky.

But suddenly, she was showing up everywhere.

She was taking the same rout to lunch he was, or sitting near a table he was at, or walking the same way out of the school. Even when he was going out for a walk, she was standing in the park, mumbling to herself.

He tried not to care about it. She was just some crazy girl who was suddenly stalking him. Not a big deal.

Even though it wasn't like she was even stalking him, more like she was _always_ there, and he just hadn't noticed her...

* * *

_That _was the option that occurred the first day he saw her smile.

He was walking over to Chouji's house on another Monday after school. The last flowers of August were peeking their heads out of the mud, and the sun was setting, throwing peach and plum streaks into the cloud-studded sky.

As he passed by the park, he saw her, and stopped in his tracks.

She was standing still in the middle of the sidewalk across the street, gazing intently at the air in front of her.

Now after what he'd seen in the hallway, he'd tried to forget it had even happened, but at the moment, he felt himself come to a halt. He really wanted to know just _what_ she was looking at…

So he watched her, as discreetly as possible, even though she didn't even seem to be aware of her existence, let alone her surroundings.

Her eyes were blue, mirroring the sky, and her lips were parted in concentration.

Shikamaru followed her gaze to the air in front of her.

Something was shimmering there. He could tell. It looked like heat waves, only more graceful than that.

Temari lifted her foot, and walked around it.

Shikamaru tilted his head to the side, and found himself leaning forward. As Temari passed the shimmering air, he could find that, at a better angle, he could see something even more clearly…

There it was! The same thing he'd seen her open in the hallway on accident. Like a sliver, in mid-air!

And Temari was walking right around it, blinking at it, like it was entrancing her, but she had seen it before.

Like staring at the **moon**.

Something you could see every night, but something so beautiful you can't look away...

"Owwie!"

Temari and Shikamaru both twitched in surprise when a young child who had been running out into the street tripped and fell onto his hands and knees right in front of Temari, who gasped and dropped down to a crouch to help him up.

"Aw, are you okay?" she crooned, and Shikamaru winced; her voice was so sugary-sweet it almost made him sick to his stomach.

The little boy, clambering to his feet with her help, held up his shaking, scraped arm. "M-My a-arm h-h-hurts," he stuttered, tears starting to fall out of his eyes.

Temari smiled, and Shikamaru's heart literally stopped for about three and a half seconds.

Suddenly, nothing but her existed.

Shikamaru's vision narrowed down almost as if he had macular degeneration, and all he could see was her, with that creepy grin on her face.

It was the scariest thing he'd ever encountered.

She was gorgeous.

And terrifying.

"Wow, but you're pretty brave, huh?" she was saying to the little boy. Her voice was like music, lilting up and down in a deep, waterfall-like melody.

"…Huh?" The little boy sniffed. "B-But I'm crying…A-A real man d-d-doesn't c-cry."

Temari tilted her head to the side. Her hair was in a high pony-tail, and it fell over her neck in golden waves as she said thoughtfully, "Well, why would you want to _be_ a man?"

"W…Well…" The boy dragged his sleeve across his runny nose and said seriously, "My b-big brother says that a man impresses pretty girls!"

Temari laughed, and the noise of it, to Shikamaru, sounded like birdsong. "Well, _I'm_ a pretty girl, and what impresses _me_ is a man that's not afraid to show his feelings. _That's_ really brave."

The little boy gazed at her, and beamed toothily. "Yeah, that is!"

Shikamaru didn't know what was going on. As Temari laughed and chatted with the little boy, taking care to meet his eye-level, the wind seemed to pick up speed. The clouds above parted, the sun glinted down.

Shikamaru's heart was racing. He could feel his lips turning upwards. Damn. Her smile was so contagious. His chest was tightening and loosening, his whole body felt numb.

What the hell was going on?

She was just so beautiful.

She was so beautiful, it actually _hurt_!

His hand darted up to his lips to cover his smile as soon as she got to her feet, ushering the little boy away into the park.

She turned over her shoulder, ready to walk away, but suddenly she caught sight of him.

The two stood in the middle of the street, gazing at each other.

Shikamaru kept his hand over his mouth. He was frozen, and he had no intent of moving.

Three young children ran past Temari, after the little boy. Their laughter never reached Shikamaru's ears. All he could hear was her voice, over and over again, all he could see was her eyes.

She never flinched.

And finally, she turned around, and began to walk away.

Shikamaru watched her go. She walked very slowly, glancing once to the children clambering over each other on the park equipment. Her hips moved side to side with her long, confident stride, her arms swung gracefully next to her. Her skirt rustled in the strong wind.

Shikamaru snapped back to attention and spun around. He tightened his hand around his mouth, narrowing his eyes.

What the _hell_ was _that_? Was he stupid? That girl was crazy! Weird! Annoying!

But he wanted to look at her.

He wanted _so bad_ to turn around again and watch her walk away…

After a few minutes of fighting with himself, he gave into the urge and twisted over his shoulder to stare after her.

She was gone.

The street was empty. A gentle breeze whipped up a few leaves, pirouetting them through the air. Shikamaru still did not look away.

* * *

Temari pressed herself against the brick wall. She was hiding behind one of the buildings in the street.

Her heart was still hammering in her chest. From running, and from…well…

"He saw me…" she whispered to herself.

She suddenly glanced at a daddy-long-leg padding gingerly along one of the bricks on the wall, and she looked intently at it.

"Maybe he saw _it_ again, too," she said to the spider under her breath, as if it could understand her.

The spider lifted a thread-thin leg into the air in simple reply, and poked it in her direction. She turned around, then dragged her way along the side of the building, and very cautiously peeked around the corner.

Shikamaru was still standing there.

He was gazing after her, his arms at his sides. His expression was one of confusion, and very strong interest.

At the sight of him she immediately felt a blush darken her cheeks, and she grinned softly.

"He's the one," she hissed back over her shoulder to the spider, not looking away from Shikamaru's figure once.

He was outlined by the setting sun, puffs of clouds dotting the sky behind him.

"I'll take him with me…" she murmured. Her voice was laced with excitement and determination. Her eyes glinted with the thrill.

She pulled herself back around the corner of the building, and let herself smile brilliantly as she collapsed against the wall.

"Some day soon," she whispered.

The spider slipped between one of the bricks and disappeared, just like everything else she encountered.

But even so, Temari spoke to midair, just as happily:

**"You ****and**** me."**

* * *

_(_Mondays **&** Monsters **/ **Moon **&** Star_)_

* * *

N E X T ;

Someone close to him was m i s s i n g  
and he had never felt so helpless.

But even when he was crying,  
_she was there._

The same creepy grin on her face, she said:  
**"Hello Mister Heartless!"**

—


	2. MISSING

—

**T W O —**  
MISSING

* * *

**Note**;

—So many people adding this story to their alert list! It means a lot to me! Of course, not all of you review. Yes, I know who you are, and yes, that was meant to be as creepy as it sounded. Just a request; if you dislike or like my story, tell me why. I can't improve without your advice, after all! Plus, in case any of you haven't noticed, I'm really excited about this particular fanfiction, which is why I couldn't wait to upload it, and which is why I've been failing Earth Science. Oh well, only 20 days 'till Senior Summer. I can't wait to graduate...For now, I hope you enjoy the following chapter.

* * *

Two weeks passed before Asuma went missing.

Shikamaru didn't think too much of it at first, because frankly it wasn't that big of a deal. He didn't show up to the lesson on Monday, so Shikamaru gave him a call. When he wouldn't answer the phone, Shikamaru decided he was probably sick.

After a couple days of not seeing Asuma at school, the back of Shikamaru's mind was being filled to the brim with troublesome questions that he tried not to ask, but which echoed back and forth in his head and scratched at his brain.

When he went to visit Asuma that weekend, to see if he was okay, no one answered the door, no matter how many times he knocked and rang the doorbell.

_That_ was what worried him the most.

Asuma only had one car, and it was in the driveway. The man smoked like a chimney, so Shikamaru seriously doubted any possibilities that he'd gone for a walk or a bike ride, no matter how much good that would do for the world.

And so, he let one more night slide, before he decided to let someone know.

* * *

"Hey dad…"

Shikamaru watched as his father sat at the kitchen table reading the newspaper, not moving. His mother was cleaning the living room, so he didn't bother with her.

"Dad…" he said again, a little louder.

His father still did not react.

Shikamaru closed his eyes, trying to be patient, and said at a very high volume, "_Dad_!"

His father twitched a tiny bit, and slowly put down his newspaper. Folding his hands over it he said very calmly to Shikamaru, "Don't raise your voice in the house, son. I'm in the same room as you are."

Shikamaru swallowed his angry retort and stuck his tongue in his cheek moodily. "I was wondering if you'd had the chance to talk to Asuma recently."

"Asuma?" Shikamaru's father yawned uninterestedly. "Nope. Why?" He lifted his newspaper again.

Shikamaru frowned. "Because I haven't had any contact with him for about a week. I don't know where he is."

Shikamaru's father tilted his head to the side, placing the newspaper on his lap. "Really? Well, have you tried visiting?"

"Yeah, his car's in the driveway and everything but he won't answer the door," Shikamaru said, stuffing his hands in his pockets. "I'm kind of worried…"

His father nodded slowly. "Well, why don't you give him another day—"

"—I've given him enough days," Shikamaru interrupted loudly.

His father raised an eyebrow inquiringly, almost in a warning.

Shikamaru coughed meekly and backed down. "Uh…sorry, but…I've been waiting for an entire week, and I really think Asuma could be in trouble…"

His father gazed, annoyed, at his son for a couple seconds longer, 'till he heaved an impatient sigh and slapped the newspaper down on the table yet again.

"Alright. I guess we'd better talk with the police."

* * *

The police were surprisingly vivid.

They wanted to know about handicaps, date of birth, age, photos, anything they could get their hands on was useful.

Shikamaru and his father filled them in on anything they could, but unfortunately they knew less about Asuma than they thought they did. Asuma's relatives were somewhat useful, but they too had no idea what could have happened to the man.

The police took action quickly nontheless. About a week later they got a permit to enter Asuma's house, and when there was absolutely no sign of him anywhere they looked, forensic scientists got to work.

Meanwhile, the police sent out flyers and posters around the city, pasting his face on the internet and creating an article in the newspaper.

A few journalists were interested in what Shikamaru had to say as well, but he refused to respond to any of their calls or emails. He didn't care about the press, he just wanted to know where Asuma was.

* * *

Asuma was like a father to him. Like a coach, or an older brother. One of the biggest role models in Shikamaru's life, and that was something every teenage boy needed to get by.

He was the one that had gotten Shikamaru engaged in his own academic skills, which Shikamaru knew was probably a terrible struggle. When he was younger, he didn't want anything to do with Asuma, or school, or _any_thing.

He just wanted to sleep, and live life without anything bothering him.

Nothing unnecessary.

Asuma, a highly renowned teacher at the high school, was a friend of Shikamaru's father, and once Shikamaru began to fail in school, was assigned by Shikamaru's father to be Shikamaru's tutor.

Asuma thought the attitude of Shikamaru's was premature, and was fully committed to bringing out the best in him once he started to notice how smart Shikamaru really was. Even when Shikamaru fought back, by not coming to lessons or not returning calls or not letting Asuma in the house, even when Shikamaru tried doing absolutely nothing, Asuma never gave up on him.

Maybe it was because of Asuma that Shikamaru was in two grades ahead than the grade he was supposed to be in.

Maybe it was because of Asuma that Shikamaru actually studied now.

Maybe it was because of Asuma…

Either way, Shikamaru had never had someone tell him before that he was capable of so much.

He'd never had anyone show him the way like that.

It was a new and fantastic thing, and already, it was beginning to fade away.

* * *

_"Geeze…"_

_A dark room. A man sitting hunched over at the edge of his bed, hidden by shadows. A gruff voice. A cigarette._

_"Come on, light, damn it."_

_A flame from a lighter, illuminating his face. A short, dark beard._

_"Liiiiight, come ooooon."_

_A loud hissing sound echoing through the room. An unnatural breeze._

_A slit, opening in midair, to show a white, glowing world, foggy and swirling._

_A tall man with silver hair, hidden by the collar of a long black coat. A quick and liquid stride._

_"Wh…What the h-hell…?" A jump and a shaking pointed finger. "N…No, it can't be you…!"_

_A cry of alarm, as Asuma was carried away through the crack and out of sight…_

"Shikamaru, sweetie…"

He shot up into a sitting position. His breath lifted with heavy breaths, and his hands were coated with sweat. His eyes were huge, but they shut immediately when his dark room was lit up by the light from the hallway as his mother cautiously opened the door.

"Shikamaru, there's something I need to talk to you about…" she said calmly.

Shikamaru bit his cheek and looked up at her from his spot on the bed. It was five o' clock PM on August twenty-third, and he had nothing better to do than sleep. In fact, he'd been sleeping a lot more often recently.

Probably to get his mind off of Asuma…

Which wasn't working! He nodded to his mother, allowing her to step gingerly into his sloppy room and over to him, and meanwhile raked at his brain. What the hell kind of dream was that?!

"Shikamaru…" His mother sat down on the edge of his bed and sighed. She had the kitchen phone held in her hand, and she clenched it distractedly. Shikamaru eyed it. "I was just talking with the police…" she said quietly. "And they said that unfortunately, they're going to have to call off the search."

Shikamaru tilted his head to the side. "…What…?"

"It's been too long, and they can't keep up with all the crime rates around this area to follow one missing person's case. They're going to give up on it and call it a 'cold case'."

Shikamaru felt his heart sink automatically. All he could do as repeat "What…?" and stare at his mother, trying not to believe it.

She smiled sadly at him and reached out to touch her son's arm. "I know it seems bad, but I talked to a couple relatives of his, and they said they can afford to hire a personal investigator in a few months' time."

"A few months?!" Shikamaru finally exploded. His mother withdrew her hand quickly and stared at him as he sat up, floundering about a bit in his blankets, and shook his head rapidly, yelling, distressed, "He could be _dead_ by then!"

"It's the best we can do, honey…" his mother said patiently, trying to calm him down, but he stood up quickly and grabbed his jacket lying in a pile of dirty clothes on the ground. "I know it's not fair, but we can't jump to conclusions automatically," she continued, watching him warily.

"We can't just sit here doing nothing!" he retorted, furious at her for not understanding. "The police didn't do jack, why can't _we_ try?!"

"Shikamaru, I _know _it's not fair, but this isn't our place to butt in," Shikamaru's mother said sternly, standing up as well and watching as he stuffed his shoes on his feet. "Asuma's relatives are grateful for our help, but we don't need to bother them anymore."

"Bother them?!" Shikamaru cried, whipping around to face his mother, astounded.

He could _feel_ the adrenaline pumping through his entire body.

He'd never felt this excited before…

Or this angry…

"What are _they_ doing then?!" he demanded. "Are _they_ even _trying_?!"

"Shikamaru, don't yell so loud!" his mother cried, appalled at his sudden douse of fury. "Sweetie, where are you going?!"

"To Asuma's," Shikamaru growled, turning to stomp out of his room and grabbing his wallet while he was at it to slip it into the back pocket of his jeans.

"What?! But why?!" Shikamaru's mother hurried after him earnestly. "Honey, please, don't do this…!"

"Who can help him if no one else will?" Shikamaru grumbled, speeding up and storming out of the house. "You're all stupid!"

He didn't look over his shoulder once, though he knew he was leaving his mother standing there in the kitchen, tired and sad.

His own mother.

* * *

It was a gloomy day. The clouds piled high and grey in the dark sky. A sleek yellow cat trotted down the sidewalk. His tail and head were held high in the air with confidence, but he moved at a slow leisurely pace, as if he had all the time in the world.

He turned a corner onto a long brick road lined with tall iron fences glazed by ivy and flowers. A strong breeze rustled the trees at the end of the road, carrying with it the stench of rainwater and mud.

The cat found a little puddle of shade near a bush and settled down into a small circle of grass to carefully lick one paw. There he stayed for a couple minutes, 'till his head snapped up at a sound.

Temari dropped out of a tree nearby, the long sturdy branch of which stretched over the wall of an enormous estate. Her hair was done up in ribbons, and beneath her white blouse was a matching lilac skirt. In her hand was a black umbrella.

Why a girl of such character was now found clutching her twisted ankle and cursing heavily in the middle of the street was not a question for passerby; no one was out, as they could hear the impending thunder.

Temari turned around with a smile, however, and inhaled, then exhaled, very deeply. Her blue eyes met the dimmed gaze of the cat, and she padded over interestedly.

Without a moment of speculation she lay herself down in the grass on her stomach and faced the cat, the umbrella dropped to the ground next to her, her chin propped on her arms. The cat stared back at her subtly alarmed, but did not run away.

Temari grinned breathlessly and said, "Hi."

The cat blinked cautiously, but he seemed to determine that she wasn't a threat, and settled back down. Temari reached forwards and spun a thick blade of grass between two fingers.

"I'm Temari," she said, laying her head sideways on her arm. Her voice was soothing; rich, deep and sweet.

The cat wrinkled his nose, and she sighed. "Yes, _that_ Temari. The_ crazy _Temari." She stuck her bottom lip out churlishly.

The cat looked up at her, and she paused as she met his gaze. She pursed her lips. "_I _don't even know why I'm out here. I mean, it's my eighteenth birthday, so I guess I deserve a little present of my own."

She lifted up her chin and suddenly began to tug on the ribbons in her hair. "I got _these_ stupid things from my stepmother, and then I started to think..."

Her voice faded away, and she shook her head. "Well, I know how to climb a tree, anyways. Right over the wall..."

Temari let herself go silent. She watched as the cat stretched, toes parting in the air, dim silver sunlight pouring through his golden fur, his beady black eyes glinting. The birds sang warnings of the storm.

She could have spent hours out there like that. Days, really. Maybe even a whole lifetime, if not for the sound of footsteps, echoing around the empty street.

Temari sat up straight. At the sight of Shikamaru walking down the sidewalk, her heartbeat sped up. The cat watched as she gazed at him. He had a firm way of walking, usually. Lazy, and slouched. But today, he was anxious, and uptight. His stride was quick, and erratic.

Temari rose to her knees, staring after the boy as he crossed around a house on the opposite end of the street and out of sight.

A splash of rain plopped onto her nose. The cat stood warily, tail raising in alarm as the rain sprinkled down around them. Temari picked up her umbrella, and felt a smile curl her lips.

"Today's the day," she whispered to the cat, who looked up at her curiously. She didn't look away from the house Shikamaru had disappeared into. Her heart felt like it was raising in her chest like a balloon. "I knew it..."

* * *

Shikamaru sat with his head in his hands, forearms resting on his knees. His fingers raked through his hair and drummed on his temples.

He was in Asuma's house, in Asuma's living room, on Asuma's sofa. All the lights were off, all the doors locked, but the sliding glass door in the back was broken, and Shikamaru knew that, which was how he'd gotten in.

He'd always bugged Asuma to fix that door, or else someone would enter and...

He closed his eyes and hissed darkly to himself. "God damn it…" he whispered. "Why can't I do…_anything_?!"

Outside, it was starting to rain gently. He could hear the sound of it tapping against the roof and walls in a steady beat. It was supposed to be calming, but he couldn't stop himself from slapping the top of his head in frustration.

He always had to watch people walk away from him. Friends, girls, even family, his personality or his stupidity always drove them off.

Because he had no emotions, right?

He was heartless, right?

He didn't care about anything or…

Or anyone…

Well…What was so wrong about that?! He was supposed to be a _man_, wasn't he?! Men weren't _supposed_ to show their emotions…

Men weren't_ supposed_ to cry...

Shikamaru's eyes snapped open, and he lifted his head slightly to stare down at his open palms.

Tears immediately splashed into them.

He felt his heart tighten in his chest, expanding and closing around itself, exploding and imploding over and over again. His head swam, his stomach seemed to drop even lower than it already was.

His chest heaved with staggered breaths, and he let a sob out into his hands.

Someone close to him was missing, and there was nothing he could do.

He had never _ever_ been so helpless in his entire life. He'd never even known what something like this felt like…

And not only that, but he'd never experienced such loneliness before…

Even though...he wasn't alone…

He noticed this in a quick flash of realization, and jumped with a start to face someone standing in front of him, bending over slightly to meet his eye-level.

An umbrella was held behind her, and rainwater made her golden hair stick together slightly. But she was still glowing, and it was a wonder Shikamaru hadn't noticed her in the first place.

He stared into glittering blue eyes for a second, before registering the fact that it was Temari.

And then he had to register the fact that he wasn't dreaming again.

He couldn't believe it. Even when he was crying, she was there. Standing in front of him, with the same old creepy grin of hers on her face.

Familiar, and so goddamn beautiful it made him furious...

Smiling at him heartwarmingly, she said with a lilt to her melodious voice:

"Hello, Mister Heartless!"

* * *

N E X T ;

**"Would you** f o l l o w . m e **through the universe?**

Would you travel with me to the darkest corners of time and space?  
_Would you walk with me among planets you never knew existed,_  
_to find creatures you've never even dreamed of?_

Would you face your greatest fears?  
Would you never, ever look back?

**Would you **_**really**_** 'do **_**anything**_**' ?"**

—


	3. FOLLOW ME

—

**T H R E E **—  
FOLLOW ME

* * *

**Note**;

—I apologize for the wait. For those of you that don't know, I've unfortunately experienced a recent death in the family, which may hinder my updates, even if I've already typed up a few of the chapters for this story.  
—I've noticed a lot of people saying that the story is "confusing". I hope this chapter will clear some things up, but if you're still confused, please tell me. To try and help those confused out, I worked really hard on the dialogue in this chapter, especially Temari's monologue. So if it seems kind of surreal, I apologize ahead of time. I hope everyone enjoys nonetheless!

* * *

Shikamaru stared dumbly up at her for a few seconds, before mumbling, "Mister What?"

Temari tilted her head to the side thoughtfully. Shikamaru took the opportunity to notice her hair as it swished over her shoulders, done up in lilac ribbons that matched her short skirt. "Mister Heartless," she repeated.

Shikamaru let his mouth hang open for a while before sitting up straight and saying, voice slightly hoarse from crying, "...What...?"

Temari straightened up as well, swinging the dripping umbrella behind her skirt. "Well, I always hear people talking about how heartless you are. So, Mister Heartless!" She smirked. "Of course, it doesn't fit you as much as your real name; 'Shikamaru'." She waved a hand in front of her face cheerfully and said, "It's so cute."

Shikamaru leaned back against the sofa. "I'm not cute," he grumbled, nudging the tears off of his face.

Temari giggled loudly, pointing at him. "Look at you now!"

He glowered at her. "I don't know what you're talking about..." His voice faded away, then he narrowed his eyes and pointed right back at her in surprise. "Hey, wait, what the hell are you doing in here?!"

Temari stopped laughing and glanced at him curiously. "What are _you_ doing in here?"

"I know the person that owns this house," Shikamaru said sternly. "You on the other hand have no right coming in here."

"Well, I saw _you _sneaking in, so I thought I might as well follow and make sure you're not causing any trouble," she said lightly, fidgeting with the umbrella.

Shikamaru frowned; that was an obvious lie.

She glanced around the small dark living room, spinning on the spot. "Nice place," she commented elatedly. She halted and smiled distantly up at the ceiling. "It's Asuma's. Right?"

Shikamaru froze. She glanced down to him. "I wonder where Asuma is..." she said dreamily.

Shikamaru felt his temper rise, but he forced it down. Never looking away from her once, he said in a hushed tone, "What do you know...?"

Temari's lips curled up into a smile and suddenly she danced over and plopped down next to Shikamaru, almost too close for comfort. And she just got even closer. Leaning in she whispered, "I had a dream last night!"

Shikamaru stared at her uncomfortably. "Good for you...?"

She ignored him and continued. "It was weird," she said, lips moving almost too fast for her to form words. "There was a man I've never seen before, and he was trying to light a cigarette..."

Shikamaru paused. Wait...

"He was alone. But then someone _else_ came in. He had silver hair, and red eyes." Her voice raised slightly with excitement. "And the man was taken away!"

Shikamaru felt his heartbeat speed up. That sounded familiar. _Way_ too familiar. Too familiar to be a coincidence.

"Have you ever had a dream like that...?" Temari whispered.

"How...did you...?" Shikamaru didn't know what to say.

Temari smiled, however, and leaned back, placing her hands on her knees. "Well...Why don't you tell me what _you_ know?"

Shikamaru thinned his lips impatiently, and Temari brushed her bangs from her eyes. "You know. What were you sobbing about, crybaby?"

Shikamaru gritted his teeth together and crossed his arms, flustered. "I-It was...rainwater..."

"If it was rainwater, the rest of your body would be wet too," Temari pointed out .

"Fine, I was crying," Shikamaru said loudly, resting his arms on his knees and staring down at his elbows. "What about it?"

"What were you crying about?" she repeated.

"Nothing," he muttered.

"It had to have been _something_."

"It's none of your business." Shikamaru dropped his head into his arms, trying to block her out. But he could feel her presence as she got even closer, leaning in to look down the back of his neck. "And why's that?" she asked curiously.

"You wouldn't know the feeling," he growled.

"How do you feel?"

"Fucking _helpless_, okay?!" He finally let his temper snap, and he sat up straight and yelled at Temari, "This always has to happen to me! Someone I care about is missing, and I can't do _anything _to help him, as usual. Because I'm 'heartless', as you said, I don't care about any_thing_, or any_one_, even though I would do..._anything _to find him again! I would do _anything _to stop people from walking away from me, I would do _anything _to stop myself from seeing everyone's backs! I would do _anything_!"

He slammed his arms down on his knees and groaned aloud, feeling unhealthily frustrated.

Except...Ranting to this girl, letting it out, felt sort of good. Almost a mixed sensation of pleasure and pain pounding in his head. Like punching a pillow, or taking a deep breath after a tantrum. Terrible, and soothing.

A long silence rang through Asuma's living room. The rain pattered down on the walls around them. The grey room sat still and silent as the two teenagers sat on the dark navy sofa.

"Can I ask you a question?"

Shikamaru slowly raised his head out of his arms, hearing Temari's new tone of voice; it was gentle, suddenly. Much more patient, and less expectant. Almost mothering.

"What?" Shikamaru mumbled dully, but he stiffened when she leaned forward and grabbed his hands.

Her eyes glittered suddenly with excitement. Wide and blue and brimming with electricity, they blinked once and that was it, and stayed locked with his own coffee-brown gaze.

"Would you follow me through the universe?"

Shikamaru stared at her. For some reason, that question had a different meaning laced within it. She was implying something other than it would seem, even considering the question was already odd enough.

"Would you travel with me to planets and places you never knew existed," she continued, the volume of her voice rising with each word, "to find creatures and things you've never even dreamed of?"

Shikamaru felt his stomach fill with butterflies. It was like getting quizzed on the spot on something he hadn't studied for. And yet, he knew all the answers.

"Would you face your greatest fears?" she asked, dropping his hands to slam her own onto the fabric of the sofa. She was leaning in closer than even his best friends would dare to get. Shikamaru leaned back instinctually against the arm of the sofa, but she only got even nearer and demanded, "Would you never, ever look back?"

She paused, then. Let the words sink in. Then she smirked, and eyed him carefully. "Would you _really _'do _anything_'?" she said softly.

And after that, the silence was very small. She never blinked. She never flinched. She wasn't afraid to stay frozen, gawking at him excitedly, and Shikamaru found, for some reason, he respected that...

And so, he said it. He couldn't believe he said it, but he did. One word, one hesitant but almost obvious word. Frightened. Confused. And elated.

He shouldn't have. He regretted it as soon as it left his lips. That goddamn word.

But he wanted to say it. Like he wanted to look at Temari, and listen to her talk, and see her smile, just one more time. He wanted her to exist. He wanted her to be there.

So he said it:

"Sure."

Temari froze for about three seconds. Then finally, her lips curled upwards to flash her gleaming white teeth, and she smiled at Shikamaru, eyes squinting shut, cheeks tinting with pink.

Shikamaru had to admit it to himself; he had never seen something so happy in his entire life. For a while, he let himself stare at her. He felt a little hollow inside at the sight of it; a little scared. But he could not for the life of himself look away.

'Till she jumped to her feet without warning and hopped over the center of the room, bending over to examine the air around her.

Shikamaru watched her carefully, and she said as she searched the room, "I have something to show you."

She clapped once eagerly when she seemed to find whatever she was looking for, and then lifted a hand up, and pulled the air apart.

Shikamaru's eyes widened, and he got to his feet as well, walking over cautiously. As she parted the air in front of her, it was like another world was forming. It was white, and it glowed, and there was a bit of a lavender tint to it...

"Whoa, whoa, what the _hell_ is _that_...?" he asked, flustered. "I've seen that, like, twice already, what _is_ it?!"

Temari spun around to face him excitedly, her body outlined by the strange white-ish glow. "A crack," she said happily. "A crack in the universe."

"...A crack...?" Shikamaru repeated dumbly. "Oh. Okay. That makes sense. Yeah. A crack. A fucking crack."

Temari ignored him. "I've been able to see them since I was little girl," she said, almost to herself instead of to him. "Before she died, my grandma told me that they're called cracks. They're everywhere, and she said they lead to other worlds!"

"Other...worlds...?" Shikamaru repeated again. He was having trouble getting the words in the right order in his brain.

"Yup!" Temari placed her hands on her hips proudly, gazing at the crack. "Grandma said she went through one of them once. Never got the chance to tell me what happened. But you can open them if you really practice, even though you have to concentrate. I've been opening and closing them for a long time, but they always seem to move around if you leave them be for a few days."

"...Lovely..." Shikamaru said weakly.

Temari rolled her eyes. "It's not _that_ big of a deal. I've never actually gone through one myself."

"Well...What...does this have to do with Asuma...?" Shikamaru put a hand to his forehead, trying to stay calm.

"Everything!" Temari said, waving a hand through the air as if it was obvious. "This is the same crack we saw Asuma go through in that dream."

"Wait, speaking of that..." Shikamaru ran a hand through his hair, keeping his breathing steady even though his heart was beating at a dangerously fast pace. "How come we both had the same dream...?"

Temari smirked. "I think _everyone_ who knows Asuma had the same dream," she said silkily. "Some time or another."

"But I didn't think you knew Asuma," Shikamaru pointed out.

Temari grinned. "But I can see the cracks." She twisted around to face the crack now. "I don't know what it is..." she said, voice fading off into the distance.

"And you think...that whoever took Asuma..." Shikamaru waved a hand at the crack lamely. "...Went through there...?"

"Exactly." Temari placed the tip of her wet umbrella on the carpeted floor. "And I guess the only thing to do is follow. Through the cracks of the universe, we'll follow in their footsteps."

"'Till we find them...?" Shikamaru asked carefully.

"Hopefully." Temari suddenly held out a hand. "Come on!" Shikamaru stared at her, and she said lightheartedly, "I have a universe to show you!"

Shikamaru found himself reaching out almost instinctually. The feeling of her small fingers wrapping around his larger, paler hand was warm and kind of friendly.

She let their arms drop, hand-in-hand, and the two faced the crack together.

"Can I ask _you_ a question?" Shikamaru said under his breath.

"Shoot." Temari sounded just as giddy as he did.

"You've been able to see the cracks since you were little..." he gathered. "So why did you never go through them before?"

"My grandma told me not to," she explained carefully. "Said, not 'till I'm old enough."

"And you are now?"

"It's my eighteenth birthday."

Shikamaru inhaled slowly, and said with a nervous laugh, "No kidding..."

"Yup." Temari tightened her hand in his. "So now I'm old enough...Plus, I'm not alone."

Shikamaru looked down at her. Her eyes reflected the white world ahead of them. "It's never fun when you're alone," she said softly.

Shikamaru turned back to face the crack. "I guess so..." he agreed quietly.

"Are you ready?" Temari asked, changing the subject shortly.

"...Sure..."

Her fingers slid between his. He took a deep breath. Stared at nothing but the world. Felt nothing but her hand. He felt like he was in a dream. Everything was moving slowly and erratically, and it was almost as if his body wasn't in control.

But standing next to Temari, holding onto her hand...there was some sort of assurance there.

Plus, he couldn't resist that smile. Even to the ends of time.

"Well then..." They took a step forward, and Temari said breathlessly, "You'd better not leave me, crybaby..."

His lips moved of their own accord: "I won't."

It wasn't a promise. He didn't think he could even make promises this early on anyways. But it was something.

* * *

N E X T ;

_"I'm here! I'm finally here, crybaby!"_

They were on another planet.

_"But Temari, where is ' here ' , exactly?"_

Quite literally.

_"How should I know?"_

And metaphorically speaking,  
**they were on two different **p l a n e t s** completely.**

—


	4. PLANETS

—

**F O U R **—  
PLANETS

* * *

**Note**;

—To quote, many of you have complained about Temari being "too girly". Well. She's a girl. Sorry if I just majorly spoiled everything. Pointedly, Temari's not meant to be a monstrosity at all times. Kishi gave her pity, mainly located with Shikamaru. And remember, the setting of this story is an alternate universe in which the two main characters are high school students, both of which are not all there mentally. Obviously, they're not going to act like ninjas.  
—I'm going to make each alien race named after a family. You'll understand once the first one pops up in this chapter, and you'll probably get a good laugh out of it too. I apologize for the wait; I'm a tad depressed (with good reason), but please enjoy~

* * *

Everything was white. Swirling around them in waves and clouds of nothing. Whatever they were walking on, it was solid, but then again it didn't feel like they were walking on anything at all.

Shikamaru couldn't stand looking at all the glowing white substance around him. He shut his eyes, and allowed his other senses to take over, the strongest being touch.

For some reason, his skin was tingling. A prickling sensation danced across his body, like millions of tiny feathers were running up and down his arms and legs. He was comfortably in the middle of warm and cold.

Temari's grip tightened around his wrist, and he consciously squeezed her hand back. Shikamaru could tell she was just as frightened as he was; her pulse was pounding through her fingers. But he felt an immense amount of trust while pressing his palm against hers.

They were walking in step with each other, and Shikamaru knew it even when his eyes were closed. They had nothing to do but walk and hold on to each other.

'Till the tickling feeling left him, and he felt himself let go of her as they stumbled to a sudden halt. It was like forgetting there was a missing step on a staircase.

At the same time, the bottom of Shikamaru's right wrist began to sting painfully for a couple seconds. It wore away quickly, but still spooked him.

Very hesitantly, he opened his eyes.

The first thing he did was check himself. It seemed he was the same, and there was no damage done to his body. A relief beyond words.

Except...one small thing...

When he looked at his wrist, he could see a strange black circle there, about the size of a penny. The skin around it was red and irritated, and it almost seemed to have been burned onto him.

He turned to look up at Temari, partly to see if she had the same thing on her wrist. He was correct, but neither of them were interested in that anymore, because as soon as he looked up, Shikamaru found something much more intriguing stretched out in front of him.

The first thing he and Temari _both_ noticed was the sky, and the only reason Shikamaru knew she noticed it at the same time he did was because their heads both turned up simultaneously.

The sky here was grey. There were no clouds whatsoever, instead it was almost like one giant cloud. There was something that Shikamaru decided must have been a star floating off to the side, glowing a kind of blue-grey and illuminating the planet eerily.

His gaze traveled lower of its own accord. In front of Shikamaru and Temari was what looked like a long road made of dirt, gaping like a hungry mouth all the way to the horizon. On either side of them were long fields of grass, weeds waving wildly among the thick green blades.

Other than the sky and dirt road, it looked like a no-star highway on earth.

Shikamaru couldn't tell if he knew yet that he was on another planet. This couldn't be real. The tips of his fingers were going numb, his palms were beginning to sweat.

Temari, on the other hand, was taking a few steps forward bouncily, and finally, she broke the silence with a bubbly, excited laugh. "This is..." she gasped, obviously trying to find the words. "This is..."

And with a very loud giggle that made Shikamaru twitch, she jumped and spun around excitedly, crying, "I'm here!" She faced Shikamaru, grinning from ear to ear. "I'm finally here, crybaby!"

As she hugged herself and looked around giddily, Shikamaru cleared his throat, trying with all his might to be calm. "Where is...'here' exactly...?"

She turned to him and scoffed. "How should _I_ know?" she asked indignantly.

Shikamaru let his mouth hang open, and then deflated and turned around to face the open crack behind them, glowing, white and mysterious. Home was that way. He could just walk right back and be home.

But he was on _another planet_.

"Holy shit..."

And _that_ was when the panic sunk in.

"I did _not _think this through!" he gasped to himself. "What about the atmosphere, what about food, what about..." He paused and looked down. On his body was a green zip-up jacket over a black top, frayed jeans, and dirty sneakers. He felt his voice come out in a rather high-pitched squeak: "I'm not _dressed _for this!"

He whipped around to see if Temari had _any _answers at all, which was unlikely, and only came face to face with nothing.

He slowly turned, to see Temari already about thirteen feet away, running at a quick speed.

Shikamaru felt his mouth fall open, appalled. "Where are you going?" he yelled after her desperately.

"This way!" Temari shouted over her shoulder. Shikamaru rolled his eyes, and she explained. "Look, a little house!" She gestured as she ran to, indeed, a small wooden house.

...What?

Shikamaru broke into a run after her, staring at the house while he did so in immense confusion. What the hell was a house, a little red house with a grey roof, that could be found anywhere on earth, doing on another planet?

"Temari...don't go there...!" he yelled, suddenly feeling a tad uneasy. But she couldn't seem to hear him, and he groaned, and ran faster, trying to catch up to her.

They flew across the grassy field, which was surprisingly springy, flinging up unnaturally dark soil behind them. The blue star off to the side gleamed mysteriously down at them as the grey sky rolled above.

When Temari finally came stumbling to a halt on the porch (A porch. Shikamaru couldn't believe it, a fucking _porch_.) she grabbed the doorknob.

Shikamaru's eyes widened, and he jumped onto the porch behind her, crying, "No, don't—!", but it was too late. She swept the door open, and danced inside.

Shikamaru gawked, open-mouthed, after her. He was torn between ditching this planet and going back home to pretend it was all a bad dream, or going after this _stupid_ girl to try and stop her from possibly killing them both.

Unfortunately, he had a weak heart. He slipped inside the house, trying not to make a sound.

He soon entered what looked like a tiny living room. There was a crimson carpet beneath their feet, and a green wooden loveseat was nestled in the corner. The walls were the color of mixed berries, and there were no windows except one shaded rectangle up on the left wall, covered by maroon curtains.

The only odd thing about it was the ceiling. It was much taller than an actual house's ceiling would be...

Temari, grinning away, was inspecting the loveseat, picking at the wood. Shikamaru padded his way over, temporarily lost for words as he gazed around the little room. Temari turned to him and pointed to the loveseat. "Doesn't this place kinda resemble Asuma's house?" she joked happily.

Shikamaru shook his head rapidly. "No," he hissed. "No it does not. We are on another _planet_, this does _not_ look like Asuma's house!"

"But—!"

"—Keep your voice _down_," Shikamaru whispered, slapping a hand over Temari's mouth furiously.

She glowered, insulted, and threw his hand away. "Why?" she demanded, but she lowered her volume considerably at the look on his face.

"This isn't our house!" Shikamaru insisted impatiently, all the while, keeping an eye out around the room. "We are breaking and entering in an _alien's_ house!" He grabbed her arm. "We're leaving."

"But I wanna check out the house a little more," Temari complained wrenching her arm out of his grasp. She slipped past him before he could snatch her again and waltzed over to the hallway at the end of the room.

Shikamaru rolled his eyes and began to follow her, but paused when she froze and stumbled backwards.

"...What...?" he asked cautiously, watching her as she slowly took a couple side-steps nearer to him.

She turned around, and when Shikamaru caught sight of her horrified face he narrowed his eyes. "_What_?" he repeated.

"It's a _giant...dog_..." she whispered to him intensely.

Shikamaru stared at her dully. "...What...?"

"I mean a _dog_," she hissed impatiently, "that's _giant_!"

Shikamaru rolled his eyes. "It's only an animal...Wait, are you sure it's a dog? What's a dog doing on another pla—?"

"—When I say _giant_," Temari interrupted him, clenching his arm suddenly with a vicious grip, "I don't mean _big_. I mean flipping _enormous_!"

At that moment, there was an unexpected thud, and Temari jumped and scurried over to cower next to Shikamaru, pointing.

A fluffy cream paw rounded the corner. It was about the size of a toaster, and had long black claws that dug into the plushy carpet beneath it.

Shikamaru and Temari gazed on in awe as the biggest dog Shikamaru had ever seen entered the living room. It's pleasantly scruffy fur nearly hid its black beady eyes.

Shikamaru immediately decided it was a male, based off of the rather masculine way it blinked at them curiously. But he could never be sure, he was more distracted by its size. This was the most gigantic dog he'd ever encountered. It was the height of a refrigerator!

Well. This explained the big ceiling...

"Okay...maybe you're right..." Temari said softly as they both unconsciously started backing away. The dog stared back at them. "Maybe we should get out of here..."

"Oh, you think?" Shikamaru grumbled, not keeping his eyes off of the dog. "Why can't you listen to me the _first_ time I tell you to do something?"

Temari didn't answer. In fact, she stopped backing away altogether. Shikamaru did as well and watched. "...Temari...?" he said slowly.

And he watched helplessly as she did the stupidest thing he'd ever seen her do, which was really saying a lot.

She skipped forward, and gave the dog a hug.

Shikamaru took advantage of a small moment to wonder what the hell was wrong with her, then he inquired hoarsely, "Do you have a mental illness?"

Temari ignored the question and crooned, "Look, he's so cute!" as the monstrous animal wagged its overgrown tail and nuzzled her playfully.

Shikamaru gazed on in horror and awe as it licked her face, and she burst into a fit of giggles. "Okay, great. .." he whispered, desperately trying to rationalize the situation. "The alien dog is cute. That's fantastic. Now whatever happened to getting the hell out of here?"

She couldn't seem to hear him, she was apparently too entranced by something else in the hallway, and Shikamaru didn't _want _to know what it was until announced "Look, there are _two _of them!"

Shikamaru groaned aloud as yet _another_ scruffy dog, significantly identical to the first, came padding in. "...Lovely...Now can we...?"

"Here, they have collars around their necks...This one's named 'Kiba', and this is 'Akamaru'. Aw!"

"...Temari...?"

"Hm, one of them has little red lights on his collar. Weird, right?"

"_Temari_, can we _please_ get out of here?"

She pouted over her shoulder as the dogs happily nuzzled her. "Calm down, they're not _hostile_ or anything."

"Yes. Maybe the alien dogs aren't hostile. Honestly, I'm not worried about the alien dogs. It's their alien owners I'm worried about," Shikamaru insisted, trying to get her to understand.

"Oh, now why would _they_ be hostile?" Temari muttered, stubborn disbelief etched into her face.

"Uh, I don't know, because we _broke into their house_?"

"Well the door was _open_, and there was nowhere _else_ to go, what did they expect?"

"We're in the middle of nowhere, I don't think they expected to find _anyone_ out here!"

"You are just _so quick_ to jump to the worst possible conclusions!" Temari rolled her eyes and turned back to the dogs. "Stop _worrying_ so much!"

Shikamaru leaned against the wall, feeling himself gradually giving up. "...So that's it..." he gathered, exasperated. "You're just not going to listen to anything I say."

She gave him a crafty smirk. "You got it, crybaby."

* * *

"You're making a sandwich?" Shikamaru observed from the alien dining table as Temari ran about the little alien kitchen with two slices of alien bread in her hands.

"Uh huh," she replied cheerfully, clanking an alien jar of alien pickles down on the alien counter.

"They have stuff for sandwiches here...?"

"Apparently." She skipped over to search the alien cupboards as the two giant alien dogs followed her around like mutant, fluffy alien baby ducks.

Shikamaru had a headache.

"How do you even know if you can digest it?" he asked, trying to make sense of it all.

"I don't." She randomly popped a pickle into her mouth and chewed. "Hm. Tastes good to me." Shikamaru rolled his eyes, and she continued distantly: "Kinda warm, though. I wish they had a fridge or something."

Shikamaru closed his eyes. "Just because it tastes good doesn't mean it's good for you." He clenched his hands together on the table. "Now that I think about it, what are we breathing...?"

"Oxygen," Temari suggested. "Or something like it."

"Oh, yeah, how big of a coincidence is it that this planet has oxygen just like earth?" Shikamaru asked doubtfully. "And how are we not being crushed by the gravity or air pressure? How can this planet have the _same_ density as earth?"

"Well how should _I_ know?" Temari slapped a slice of cheese over the pickles on her sandwich. "Jeez, you're such a buzz-kill." Finished creating her sandwich, she took a rather large bite.

"But don't you think this is weird? Aren't you concerned at all?"

"No! Would you _stop worrying_?" Temari pointed her sandwich at him in disapproval and declared "You're so annoying!"

Shikamaru paused briefly in disbelief. "_I'm_ annoying...?" he repeated, letting the words sink in. He slammed a hand on the table, dumbfounded. "_Me_?" he demanded. "Who do _you_ think you _are_?"

"Oh what are you going on about now?" Temari mumbled moodily with her mouth full.

"_You're _the annoying one!" Shikamaru reminded her, voice raised considerably in frustration. "You're _so _annoying, you're the most annoying person I've ever _met_!"

"Oh come on! You're just pissed because you can't find an answer to your constant meaningless questions," Temari said churlishly. "I'm not _that _bad."

"You have _no idea_," Shikamaru growled.

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah."

"Well, as long as I _don't _have an idea, I still won't believe you," Temari sang, ripping off a piece of crust and sliding it into her mouth to muffle the last part of her sentence.

Shikamaru ground his teeth together. He was feeling nauseous, his skin was tingling, the bottom of his wrist was stinging...Everything about this current situation was pissing him off to no end, and he _did not_ need this girl telling him how he felt!

He got to his feet and placed a hand on the table top. "You," he said evenly, "are pretty."

Temari blinked in surprise and faced him. She was obviously shocked at how serious he was, let alone when he was saying something like_ that_ out of the blue...

"I'll admit it," Shikamaru continued. "You're kind of beautiful. But..."

He clenched a fist.

"You have also got to be the ugliest person ever born."

Temari tilted her head to the side.

"Your attitude may be mistaken for you just being cute if you didn't make up for it with terrible self control and an awful sense of humor. You have absolutely no level of temper, and you get fired up at the smallest thing."

Temari narrowed her eyes and seemed to be finding something to say, but Shikamaru was not finished.

"You're smart," he admitted, "But you're also instinctual, so at the same time you're a complete idiot."

She frowned, seemingly insulted. Shikamaru didn't hesitate to add to what he'd already heaped up.

"You've dragged me along after someone who I think is probably dead, when I haven't been doing anything but sleeping and bottling up my anger for _days_, you don't have any _friends_..."

Temari's lips parted at this.

But Shikamaru couldn't help himself.

He just kept on going.

Because ranting to this girl felt better than anything had in a long time.

"...you don't even _care_ about the fact that we're on _another fucking planet_, and obviously you're insensitive because _you don't seem to understand_ that this is the _worst_ possible time to drag me along on your _stupid_, self-involved adventure to find whatever the _hell_ it is you're looking for on the outskirts of space!"

Temari gazed at him, slightly open-mouthed. He grumbled, reaching his point, "I kind of really dislike you. And after this is all over, I don't want anything to do with you ever again."

Temari's eyes dove straight into his as he finished, clearly and simply:

"You're a freak."

There wasn't even a moment's hesitation after that.

She turned around, and swept out of the kitchen into the living room, not a word or a thought left behind her.

Not even an angry glare over her shoulder.

Absolutely nothing.

Shikamaru watched her go, and immediately, felt the blow to his unfortunately weak heart.

He grimaced and sat back down at the table slowly, gradually starting to become more and more guilty...

He drummed his fingers on the wood, and looked around the kitchen, searching for something to distract himself with, as he insistently believed that what he'd said was for Temari's own good. His gaze caught on the sight of one of the dogs, which stared mutely up at him. Its eyes were scrunched together, and Shikamaru pursed his lips and leaned back in his chair.

"What?" he muttered to the dog. "Don't look at me like that. I said what I was thinking, would you rather I lie to her?"

"No."

Shikamaru nodded his head to the side understandably.

Then, he froze.

Slowly, cautiously, his head clicked back to face the dog, which spoke: "What you said to her was pretty cruel, though."

".....What....the hell....?" Shikamaru whispered.

Finally, realizing the situation, he flung himself up and out of the chair and backed away from the dog, crying, "You dogs can _talk_?"

The dog tilted its head to the side. "D...og...?" it repeated, as if it was a foreign word. Except, it couldn't repeat a word, no matter how foreign, because its mouth wasn't moving, and dogs couldn't talk anyways, and oh shit Shikamaru was going crazy, wasn't he...?

The dog sighed, except it couldn't sigh because the voice wasn't coming from its mouth but from the little red lights on its collar, and Shikamaru's headache was getting worse...

"Why does _everyone_ that crosses through here call us that...?"

Shikamaru blinked in surprise. "Everyone....that...?"

The dog yawned. Except the yawn came from the collar. The mouth didn't even move, instead the little red lights blinked in time with the sounds. "Huh. I should probably present myself in a more familiar form, shouldn't I?"

He pulled a paw into the air and pressed the tips of his toes to the red lights.

In a flash, the dog started glowing red, and instantly transformed into what resembled a male human being.

He was very tan, with a head of scruffy hair the color of cinnamon. On his high cheekbones were red markings, and he was dressed in a variety of furs.

He grinned at Shikamaru, flashing brilliantly sharp teeth, and raised a hand with unnaturally long fingernails.

"Hi. I'm Kiba," he said cheerfully.

Shikamaru gaped back at him for a couple seconds in silence. Finally finding his voice, he croaked, "...Oh...Nice to meet you..."

Kiba chuckled a bit and rubbed the back of his neck as if embarrassed. "Wow, so formal."

"Uh...Temari...!" Shikamaru called, moving towards the door while never looking away from the dog...person...Kiba...thing...

Kiba smiled. "Yeah, bring her back! She can rub behind my ears again..._Wow_ is she good with her fingers! Way better than the others!"

Shikamaru shook his head and turned towards the doorway, grumbling to himself. "Great. A sexually appealed dog thing is...Wait, 'others'?"

He faced Kiba again, who was caught in the middle of scratching under his chin vigorously, and looked up. "Hm? Yeah, others," Kiba repeated calmly. "A _ton_ of people just like you...'Humans', you're called, right? From 'Earth'...You guys come through here _all_ the time."

"...Seriously...?" Shikamaru said softly.

So he and Temari weren't the first to go through the cracks...

Huh.

"Yeah. And other things too." Kiba leaned back against a chair and proceeded to massage his back with the wood of it.

"Other...'things'...?" Shikamaru placed a hand to his forehead. This was big. This was bigger than anything he'd ever come across. This was _astronomical_.

"Uh huh. Like Yamanakans, the Venans, those puppet people, the personoids...oh, and the Jashians! _Those_ guys are _freaky_!"

"Oh...So there are other species out there..." Shikamaru whispered, mostly to himself.

Kiba rested back against the chair and observed. "Yeah, there aren't only 'humans' out there."

"What about you, then...?" Shikamaru asked under his breath, suddenly too tired to be too astounded.

"Us?" Kiba gestured to himself and the other dog sitting next to the table contentedly. "Me and Akamaru are part of the Inuzukans! There's not too many of us, but we get along great!"

"Ah...I see..." Shikamaru nodded to Akamaru. "Nice to meet you too, I guess..."

Kiba rolled his eyes. "Jeez, you human beings are so weird." He gestured to Akamaru casually. "He can't understand you. He's not like you and me, he's...What you'd call a simpler creature."

"...Uh huh...?"

Kiba sighed. "All Inuzukans are born with what you people call 'dogs'. They're what we call 'companions'." He allowed Akamaru to come over and nuzzle his leg, and explained as he rubbed Akamaru's head, "They're part of us."

"...Wow..." Shikamaru observed the two for a while, then he sighed and turned around. "This is...Wow..." He scratched his head and called weakly, "Temari...?"

"Ah, she's probably not gonna come back." Shikamaru turned to watch as Kiba sat down backwards in the chair. He gestured to Shikamaru rudely and muttered, "_You_ had to go chase her away."

"...Sorry, I—"

"—There you go _again_!" Kiba cried suddenly, pointing to Shikamaru abruptly. "Being all _nice_ and everything! And I'm not even of your race!" He crossed his arms against the back of the chair and frowned upon Shikamaru. "And yet, you can be as rude as hell to a girl from your very own planet."

Shikamaru stared at Kiba. He felt his anger lessen slightly, because he had a point...

This alien really had a point...

Kiba stuck his tongue out and ruffled Akamaru's fur. "That girl was right," he said distractedly. "You need to stop worrying. Either be rude, or be polite, but stick to one and stick with it, would you?"

Shikamaru stood still in the middle of the alien kitchen for a while. Feeling the lukewarm alien air. Tasting the alien scents, wafting away from Temari's unfinished alien sandwich sitting on the alien counter...

It wasn't really that bad...

He turned, and left the kitchen.

Temari wasn't in the living room, so Shikamaru decided she must have gone outside. He exited the house and looked around.

"...Temari...?" he called to the open air.

No reply.

He groaned and hopped off the porch. "Temari, seriously. I have something to show you, okay?"

Still no answer.

Shikamaru glowered out at the open stretch of grass in front of him. The sky billowed ahead. The huge star glinted down.

"Wha!"

Shikamaru gave a rather unmanly yelp in surprise when Temari grasped his elbow and wrenched him away.

"Come on, already."

"...Huh?"

He let himself follow after Temari, who, not looking at him, just pulled him along after her at an uncomfortably fast pace.

Shikamaru swallowed. "Um..."

"You said you didn't want anything to do with me after this," Temari said suddenly. She sounded surprisingly content.

Shikamaru cringed. "Uh...Listen, about that..." He fidgeted with his arm, trying in vain to pulling it out of her grasp. "I didn't really mean it, I'm just really tired, and it's—"

"—No, you meant it," Temari interrupted him suddenly. "You mean what you say, and that's something about you..."

Her voice faded away, and after a while of just them walking in an uncomfortable silence, she said, "I'm glad."

Shikamaru stared at her in confusion. He couldn't see her face as she pulled him along, but her blonde hair bobbed away, swinging from side to side behind her.

"I'm glad," she repeated. "I'm glad that you can say aloud what you really think about me, because honestly, no one's ever said something like that to me before."

Shikamaru felt himself slowly relax in her hold. She wasn't sad. Why not? He thought he'd hurt her feelings, but what she was saying just wasn't...what he'd expected...

"I'm really glad," she said again softly, and she truly sounded it. "I guess you're the right person to come along with me after all." She laughed under her breath. "Even if my timing _is_ a little off."

And Shikamaru, even if he didn't want to, found himself laughing along with her.

It was a quiet sound, the two of them laughing together.

A gentle sound. A relaxed sound.

The kind of sound Shikamaru yearned for some days.

Temari even let go of his arm, and neither of them stopped walking, even if they didn't know where they were going just yet.

* * *

N E X T ;

_"You're an atheist? You could have told me!"_

In the case of a macabre world where r e l i g i o n is everything...  
...people are nothing.

"We will hunt down the nonbeliever,  
**and eliminate him."**

—


	5. RELIGION

—

**F I V E **—  
RELIGION

* * *

**Note**;

—I'm so sorry for the long wait. I thought once it was summer, I'd have more time, but obviously I have even less. Oh, and for the record, I'm not trying to insinuate anything at all about religion as a whole in this chapter or the next. I respect all religions and those who believe in them. However I myself am an atheist, so please refrain yourself from insulting my beliefs (er, lack of them). It's just as painful for me as it may be for you.

* * *

Temari could tell that Shikamaru was quite uncertain of what to say. They'd been walking side by side for a few minutes, slowly approaching the open field around the side of the alien dogs' house.

She'd been debating for a while, and now decided it was best if they found something to fill the silence with.

"So."

"So."

"Yup."

Shikamaru closed his eyes patiently. "You're a terrible conversation starter."

"_You're_ rude."

"Well you told me you were glad to hear the truth from me, right?" Shikamaru frowned thoughtfully. "But seriously, _where_ are we going right now?"

"To the crack." Temari pulled some hair behind her ear; it was getting loose, and she was feeling a little uncomfortable now that she had no purse or pockets. Even the umbrella had been dropped somewhere in the house of the alien dogs.

"...So we're not going any further...?" Shikamaru asked. Temari noticed his pace got slower as they walked. "We're just...giving up...?"

"What are you talking about?" she asked indignantly, grabbing his arm again in an attempt to make him walk faster. "We're going to the _other_ crack."

Shikamaru's lips parted dumbly. "...There's...another one..." he gathered dully.

"Yup." Temari pointed, and Shikamaru literally stopped moving altogether.

Temari let him stop this time and stepped to the side of him, smiling wryly. She could still slightly remember the first time _she_ saw a crack. Obviously Shikamaru could see a closed crack now that he had gone through one, and to him, a closed crack was probably even scarier than an open one.

Because a closed crack was simply an apparition, this particular one being a tall colorless man, standing iridescent and eerie, in the middle of the field. Not blinking, not moving, not alive, all he did was stand upright with dull, lifeless eyes and tightly thinned lips.

In front of his chest was a long flickering strip of the same white light Shikamaru and Temari had walked through.

Temari observed it carefully, then slowly turned to Shikamaru.

He still wasn't moving, just stood still and stared at the man—the closed crack—in subtle awe.

Temari didn't blame him for being temporarily paralyzed. It was disturbing, this ghost of a man. "You okay...?" she asked cautiously, leaning over to poke Shikamaru's arm. (She took a moment to recall how muscular it was. He was such a wimp, but really, he had a nice body...)

He twitched slightly and cleared his throat. "Uh...So this is what you saw back on...?"

"Uh huh." Temari locked her arms behind her back, watching the closed crack with Shikamaru. "They're everywhere on Earth," she said. "Just people, standing still. When they're opened, then they're just the same white world you saw earlier. But when they're closed, they're all like this."

"All of them look the same?" Shikamaru asked quietly. He still didn't let his eyes stray from the crack.

Temari shook her head. "No, they're all different. They can be animals too! All sorts of animals. And women, and children...I even saw a few babies."

"...You're screwing with me..."

"No, really..." Temari tilted her head to the side solemnly. "One time I saw a baby in the middle of class, and I just...I had to get a closer look..."

Shikamaru frowned. "...In the middle of class? You just walked over and looked at it?"

"Wouldn't you?" Temari shook her head. "A baby, Shikamaru, just sitting there alone..." He seemed to contemplate that. Temari sighed. "The children are the scariest," she murmured sadly. "They just stare at you...They don't even move...And the animals, never breathing..."

She rubbed her arms, feeling a little chilled.

"I'm used to it," she continued softly. "It's sad, but my theory is that every living thing that dies in the area, every single thing...They all turn into the cracks. And the white world that we just went through...I think it's some part of them..."

Shikamaru turned to look at her at last.

"So...that's a dead guy...?" he asked squeamishly. "We're about to...walk through...a dead guy...?"

"...Well, it's only a theory..." Temari said with a nervous laugh. "Best not to think about it."

"Jeez..." Shikamaru rubbed the back of his neck. "Well, how do we know that's not the same one we just came through? I mean, you said they could move around."

"He looks different," Temari said simply. "Besides, they only move around if I close them. I left that last one open."

"Well don't you think someone else will see it and walk through to Earth?"

"Only if they can see it. And it's not that easy, is it?" Temari said slyly. "And seriously, you already said it. We're in the middle of nowhere. Who's gonna come through?"

"Well...What's the reason you didn't close it anyways? Shouldn't you be more careful about this stuff?"

"How else are we gonna get back to Earth?"

Shikamaru paused, staring at Temari.

She smirked back at him, and he raised an eyebrow.

"So we're gonna go back..." he said cautiously. "Some day."

"Some day," Temari agreed cheerfully. "For now..." She faced the crack. "We might as well get a move on. We have no idea how far away they are."

"Basically, then..." Shikamaru turned to the crack as well. "...we're gonna follow after whoever took Asuma, through all the cracks and all the worlds they've been through...?"

"Exactly." Temari nodded.

"But how many worlds are there...?" Shikamaru wondered. "What if we run into one that kills us?"

"You never signed a contract," was all she responded with.

She twisted a lock of her hair and looked up at him. He was obviously nervous. How annoying.

She sighed and grabbed his arm impatiently. "Come on, then," she said. Leading the way.

* * *

The first thing Shikamaru saw as he and Temari stepped together through the crack and out again into another world, was red. Quite literally.

"Wow..." Temari broke the silence, glancing around. She arched her neck to gaze at the sky, and Shikamaru followed her lead.

There were clouds, but here, they were red. Blood red, blanketing the barren landscape around them and casting an eerie crimson glow on this new world.

The two travelers let the subtle shock sink in, before Shikamaru drew their attention to their surroundings: "What are those...?"

Temari looked around with him. There were multiple long black pillars scattered here and there, like a forest of unnaturally dark marble. They stood tall, and threw strange shadows behind them, reflecting the red sky and glinting maliciously down at Shikamaru and Temari.

"I dunno..." she said, and she walked towards the nearest one to find out. Shikamaru cautiously followed behind her, turning on the spot as he went to get a better look around at the world. The crack they'd just come through gleamed white and proud amongst the crimson glow.

"There's things carved into them..." Temari said, causing Shikamaru to jump and almost ram into her. "It's a bunch of weird pictures...I can't really make any sense of 'em..."

Shikamaru looked to the pictures she was indicating, and bent over next to her to see them more clearly.

She was right, they were strange pictures. But he could, somehow, put them together once he started thinking.

"I think it's...some sort of religious thing..." he muttered under his breath, eyes scanning the symbols.

"...Hey...Shikamaru...?"

He ignored her. He suddenly found himself very interested in the tiny pictures. He ran his hand over the engravings. "This one looks like a person holding something to his neck..."

"...Shikamaru, there's—"

"—Maybe he's sacrificing himself..." Shikamaru interrupted Temari, fingernail digging into the knife on the picture's throat. "And the picture next to it, it shows the same person bending over in front of...something..." He scratched the back of his neck. "Maybe that's their god."

"Shikamaru, look up," Temari hissed impatiently, and he turned around and found himself staring at a chilling sight.

Multiple cloaked figures, remarkably resembling humans, were clustered before them. They were completely shrouded in black, and their faces were hidden and shadowed beneath heavy hoods, but their hands peeked out from beneath their sleeves. They were very, very pale.

Shikamaru swallowed, straightening up all the way and pressing the side of his arm to Temari's. She glanced up at him, then down to the shrouded figures again. The one at the front of the group took a step forward. "Name your species," he said. He seemed male, but possessed a surprisingly young voice.

"Um," Temari bit her lip. "...Humans...?"

"...Humans..." the first one said. His hand drifted up to his arm and scratched, and the others behind him relaxed. "Again?"

"You've...seen humans before..." Shikamaru gathered.

"Yes, but never in such bad timing." The one in front crossed his arms. "I'm sorry, but you two have arrived on a terrible day, I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you to leave the way you came and not return."

"What?" Temari placed her hands on her hips and demanded, "Why not?"

"Again, this is very bad timing," the figure said. "We have to be suspicious of every foreigner who passes by."

"Why's that?" Temari inquired impatiently.

The figure hesitated. "...It's a bad day," he repeated almost decidedly.

"A day we've been waiting for," a figure behind him snapped suddenly, taking a step forwards. "And no more _humans_ are going to ruin it."

"We won't mess anything up!" Temari said, seeming very put-off. "Come on, we obviously speak the same language and everything!"

The one in front chuckled doubtfully. "You really don't know anything, do you?" The one next to him laughed a bit as well.

Temari was obviously incredibly insulted. She let them laugh for a few seconds longer, but in those few seconds her anger and frustration seemed to sink in even deeper. And so, without a moment for Shikamaru to object, she took a few steps towards the first figure who had spoken, grabbed his hand, and began to shake it.

"There," she said as the figure just stood still and allowed her to wave his hand around. "Let's just be friendly, yeah?"

Shikamaru smacked a hand to the side of his head in disbelief.

The figure tilted his hooded head to the side, and as he did so some of the red light seeped through, illuminating a pair of soft blue eyes. "I see..."

Temari paused and blinked at him. "Hey...what's wrong with your hand...?" she said suddenlys. She raised his hand into the light, and all could see that on the palm was a small slit.

The figure retrieved his hand from her and relaxed slightly. "We are the Jashians," he explained calmly. "We learn by touch. And I have just learned by touching you that you were correct. You are innocent."

A few of the figures behind him, including the one that had stepped forward, all groaned and mumbled beneath their breaths. The figure ignored them and turned to Temari and Shikamaru, who was slowly walking up behind her. "My name is Deidara," he introduced himself, crossing his arms. "You're Temari."

Temari blinked in surprise. "Uh...yeah..."

"I see. It's nice to meet you. Both of you." Deidara nodded to Shikamaru, who nodded back uncomfortably, then Deidara gestured behind himself. "Please come with us."

Shikamaru stepped next to Temari. "But you just said we're innocent," he recalled. "Can't we just go our own way...?"

"Yes, you're innocent. But that doesn't mean you can't become evil soon," Deidara said calmly. "It's not that I'm suspicious. Just wary. Please come with us, I insist. We'll take you to our sermon."

"...Sermon?" Shikamaru questioned, but Temari grabbed his wrist and said cheerfully, "Okay!"

Shikamaru tried not to groan aloud as she pulled him after her. They followed the hooded men through the black pillars, across the smooth, red ground beneath their feet.

* * *

"That is one big church," Temari gasped.

Shikamaru couldn't help but agree. The hooded Jashians had led them to an absolutely gigantic stone castle. Great arches and pillars reached up high to the red sky, built with bulky black rock. Pictures and inscriptions were drawn and carved into the bricks, wrapping around windows and doors and twirling through iron cascades of shingles.

Shikamaru squinted up to gaze at the highest tower of the church, glistening up in the sky. He could see a small window there. He frowned when he spotted something red at the edge of it. It was just a dot from where he stood, but very vivid...

"This..." Deidara said suddenly, and Shikamaru looked down at him to pay attention, "is the House of Worship for the Great Jashin." He looked down at them and removed his hood. He was indeed a young man, with a smooth, round face and a friendly smile, long blonde hair spilling over his shoulders. "Come," he said proudly.

Temari and Shikamaru glanced at each other, then walked forwards, slipping between hooded figures crowding around the front doors to walk up the steps.

But as soon as they'd gotten to the wide front doors, they were both interrupted with a splash of water.

They stood there, side by side, dripping glumly as the two Jashians standing near the doors refilled their giant black jugs of water from the barrels besides them.

As Temari spit the water from her face, pulling her wet bangs from her face, Shikamaru cleared his throat and tried to find the words to say to the slightly guilty-looking Deidara, who stood nearby expectantly.

"Um...Can I just ask..." Shikamaru's voice faded away, and he sighed and said gloomily, "What...What was that for...?"

"It's Holy Water," Deidara explained. "All outsiders must be cleansed by being doused with Holy Water before setting foot inside of the church." He clasped his hands together eagerly. "Come on, then..." He walked inside, and Shikamaru and Temari followed him.

As they walked, they rolled their eyes at each other. "Great," Temari muttered to him under her breath. "We had to land on _this_ kind of planet."

"Lucky us," Shikamaru agreed sarcastically.

They continued to follow Deidara into an enormous chamber. More black pillars stretched to the high ceiling. Staircases winded around in circles, disappearing into invisible rooms. Standing on a high rise in the middle of the room was another hooded man. This man was so concealed they couldn't even see the color of his eyes, but his voice was loud and passionate.

"That's Hidan," Deidara said, leaning down to Shikamaru and Temari and pulling them back from the gigantic crowd surrounding the rise. "He's our Priest."

Shikamaru and Temari turned to stare at the Jashian. He was shouting wildly at the moment, waving his arms over the crowd of Jashians in front of him, who seemed completely captured by his words.

"The Great Jashin thrives on what we give him!" Hidan was crying. "He survives merely because we allow him to! He lives in the afterlife so that we, who have worshipped him, can live on in this world! And all he asks is that we believe!"

Shikamaru tried to be polite and watch Hidan without grimacing. He hated these things. His mother once brought him to church for Easter for his grandmother, and he'd actually fallen asleep.

"One day, we've been told that an evil man will come," Hidan continued, quieting down slightly. The crowd around him shifted uneasily, some seeming very angry. "We've been told," Hidan said patiently, "that he will come to destroy our very morals. And that he will escape with his life." Hidan slammed his hands suddenly on the floor in front of him, dropping to his knees.

"We will not let any nonbelievers live!" he shouted. The crowd screamed their approval.

As they cheered and cried and rejoiced, Temari and Shikamaru shared an uneasy glance. They both looked up to Deidara, who noticed their uncomfortable expressions and smiled reassuringly. "Don't worry," he said, leaning down to them again. "As long as the Idea of Jashin is in your minds, you are safe here. I'll speak up for you, I know Hidan will listen to me."

"The Idea of Jashin?" Temari questioned nervously.

"Yes," Deidara said calmly. "I've seen it while touching you. You've been blessed with the Idea of Jashin."

"Oh. Well, thanks," Temari replied awkwardly.

The three of them were suddenly distracted when the ritual seemed to be interrupted. Hidan was on the stage on his hands and knees, coughing and shuddering wildly. The crowd gasped in surprise as he began to shake violently, slamming his hands on the stage.

Deidara sighed as Temari and Shikamaru stared at Hidan warily. "Oh no," Deidara said softly. "Not again."

"What?" Temari asked, not letting her eyes off of Hidan. He was calming now, and got to his feet slowly, one hand to his head, the other stretched in front of himself.

Deidara gazed at Hidan with a grim expression stretching his face. "Someone is going to die again today," he whispered.

Temari and Shikamaru shared an alarmed look, but before either of them could ask what that meant, Hidan stretched an arm over the chattering, befuddled crowd and declared, voice carrying all the way over to Deidara, Temari and Shikamaru, "There is a nonbeliever in this room!"

The entire church seemed to turn as one. They all twisted around, glancing over each other. Many stared at Temari and Shikamaru, seeing their very obvious alien attire. "His name," Hidan continued as the Jashians continued to search,

", is Shikamaru."

It was an odd thing. Shikamaru remembered in Psychology class that it was called the cocktail party effect. When a person heard their name, that person would always react sharply.

Shikamaru could feel Temari's gaze burning into the side of his head. He stared at Hidan with teeth gritted tightly together. Trying not to let his façade drop.

The entire room was turning around on the spot, trying to see if anyone there resembled a Shikamaru. Even Deidara was looking around. Not paying close attention at all to the real Shikamaru, who Temari was pinching the arm of desperately.

"It's alright," Hidan called, trying to calm them. "It's alright! We have dealt with this before!"

He suddenly took a step forward on the rise and held his arms out to his sides. "We will hunt down the nonbeliever..."

Shikamaru gulped at the smile in Hidan's voice.

"...and we will eliminate him..."

Shikamaru felt like Hidan was looking directly at him. He felt like _everyone_ was looking directly at him.

"Can I...talk to you...?" a small voice said at his side.

He glanced down at Temari. She looked just as worried as he was. Which made everything even worse.

* * *

"You're a 'non-believer'?" Temari hissed. She'd dragged him outside of the church and around into an empty stone garden of pillars, where no one could listen. "What the hell was he talking about?"

Shikamaru sat down on one of the hard benches. The red star beat down on his shoulder through the thick layer of clouds. "Well I didn't think they'd know I'm an atheist!" he said furiously almost to himself. "They didn't even touch me! I mean, how could that guy _tell_?"

"You're an atheist? You could have told me!"

Shikamaru glowered and looked up at her. "Oh yeah: 'Hey, stranger, before we go commit suicide on another planet, I just wanted to let you know I'm an atheist.'" Temari simply replied with a stern glare, and he flung his hands in the air. "Well what about you? You don't seem like the kind of person to devote yourself to anything...meaningful..."

"Oh you're one to talk," Temari snapped, but she lowered herself on the bench next to him thoughtfully. "…I'm a scientific agnostic."

"So you don't believe in religion!"

"No, I don't. But obviously, since I do believe something out of our comprehension exists, that must mean I posses the 'Idea of Jashin', so that's why I'm 'innocent'."

Shikamaru sat back against the bench. "I guess that makes sense..." he murmured.

They both stiffened at the sound of footsteps. A couple cloaked Jashians rounded the corner into the garden, where they spotted the two on the bench and came closer. One of them removed his hood, and they saw it was Deidara. "What are you two doing here?" he asked, narrowing his blue eyes.

"That's a good question," another hooded figure said. Shikamaru recognized his voice; there was no mistaking it was Hidan. "What are your names?"

Shikamaru swallowed, but Temari, unnecessarily composed as usual, straightened up and said seriously, "I'm Temari, and this is my friend Kankerou. We're just passing through, we're trying to find a crack. We have nothing to do with 'Shikamaru'."

"How are we supposed to believe you?" Hidan asked sharply. "We can't let our suspicions drop, I'm afraid, not for anything, not for any_one_."

"Because," Deidara said suddenly, stepping forward, "I already touched them." Hidan glanced at Deidara from beneath his shadowy hood, and Deidara continued reassuringly, "We can trust them, Hidan. I'll take full responsibility if anything goes wrong."

Hidan observed Deidara for a while, then said thinly, "Very well. I'll expect you to keep an eye on them at all times, then." He faced Shikamaru and Temari. Shikamaru wished he could have seen this thing's face. It was very unsettling. "Then I expect you two will come along with us, to search for this Shikamaru," Hidan continued darkly. "We'll need your full support."

For some reason, Shikamaru suddenly felt angry. He didn't know why. It felt like he was locking eyes with the alien, and it felt terribly dangerous. Like he had a _reason_ to be mad.

Controlling himself cautiously, he said "You'll get it." Out of the corner of his eye, he thought he could see Temari grin.

* * *

N E X T ;

Why were they doing this?

"_They're sort of like us."_

This c o n v e r t i n g bullshit?

"_Because you were crying."_

**He was so used to not getting an answer.**

"_What's in it for you?"_

Sometimes there was something worth knowing.

—


	6. CONVERTING

—

**S I X **—  
CONVERTING

* * *

**Note**;

—There's not much I can say about this chapter. It'll be kind of funny, kind of sad, and kind of adorable; all that jazz. Please remember to review this time. Let me know why you like it, or if you find anything awkward or grammatically incorrect. Thanks for reading, I do hope you enjoy!

* * *

"B-But, _why_?"

"Because I said so!"

"But I _like_ skipping! It's more fun that way!"

"You're only going to trip, you fool!"

"Whoa-_Ow_!"

"I told you so! For Jashin's sake, walk correctly!"

"Ow, Deidara, my knee hurts!"

"Something's wrong with you, Tobi. Something is seriously wrong with you."

Temari and Shikamaru shared an uneasy glance. Hidan had ordered that they, Deidara, and one of the cloaked figures whose name he'd said was Madara, go search for the 'nonbeliever'.

They'd been walking, and all they figured out was that Deidara was, for whatever reason, calling Madara 'Tobi', and the two of them could do nothing but argue nonstop.

"They're kind of..." Shikamaru twisted a finger near his head and whistled beneath his breath, leaning down to Temari slightly.

She nodded, raising an eyebrow. "And I thought _you_ were difficult..."

"Hey..."

Putting that aside quickly, as usual, Temari cleared her throat and faced Deidara and Tobi. "Uh...So I'm guessing you two are already...familiar with each other...?" she said loudly, Shikamaru nodding as carefully as he could.

Deidara scoffed over his shoulder. "Yes, unfortunately," he grumbled as Tobi nodded, then spotted a tall black pillar and danced over interestedly.

Deidara, once Tobi was out of earshot, slowed down to face Shikamaru and Temari and muttered, "I apologize for his rash actions. He has DPD."

"...What?" Shikamaru asked as Temari snorted unhealthily.

"Double Personality Disorder," Deidara explained speculatively. "He has two personalities, which rapidly and randomly switch back and forth." He paused thoughtfully. "You're humans...I thought your race had something like that."

Shikamaru shrugged. "Er, we have Schizophrenia."

Deidara shook his head. "Anyways..." He turned to watch Tobi run around the pillar, his arms pin-wheeling wildly. "I met him when he was Madara. He was about to walk into a trap by mistake, laid by Hidan, and I saved him."

Deidara narrowed his eyes slightly. "But he wasn't happy. In fact, Madara tried to kill me."

Shikamaru and Temari both grimaced before Deidara continued; "But Tobi took over and stopped before it got too bad. Tobi apologized, and thanked me for saving him, and now..."

Deidara sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. "Well, now he owes me his life and his 'eternal gratitude', and basically...He never leaves me alone."

Temari tilted her head to the side. "Doesn't Madara ever try to kill you?"

Shikamaru glared at her, horrified by her thoughtless question, but Deidara didn't seem too insulted. "No." Deidara drew his cloak closer to him. "Madara barely ever shows up, but when his does...Well, Tobi orders him not to harm me..."

Temari nodded silently, and Shikamaru stuffed his hands in his pockets. Aliens truly were weirder than he imagined.

Which was saying some serious shit.

"For Jashin's sake, Tobi!" Deidara suddenly shouted, hurrying over to Tobi, who seemed to be trying to climb the pillar.

Temari laughed dreamily as she and Shikamaru paused to watch Tobi and Deidara struggling with each other. "They're kind of like us..."

Shikamaru couldn't help but scoff at that. "What? How?"

Temari shrugged, smiling up at him. "They fight a lot. But I'm sure they both mean the best."

Shikamaru stared at her. Was she insinuating something? Yeah, she was definitely insinuating something. He frowned and looked away. "Well what if they're just crazy?" he muttered. Trying to insinuate something as well.

Temari giggled. "You can't be _just_ crazy! You have to be something else too, ya know. No one's _that _boring."

Shikamaru groaned. "Well that's what _you're _supposed to be," he muttered, not bothering to watch his tongue. He had a really, really bad headache.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Temari asked cautiously. It wasn't in anger or suspicion, mostly she was curious.

Shikamaru shrugged. "Just..." He sighed. "I just hear a lot of rumors about you."

"Oh really?" Now she sounded amused. "Like what?"

Shikamaru looked at her. She had a small smirk on her face. He raised an eyebrow. "I don't want to—"

"—Oh come on," Temari said, smacking his arm lightly. "You don't actually think my feelings would get hurt!"

Shikamaru scowled, feeling heat rush to his cheeks. "I wasn't worried about your feelings."

"Then why hesitate?" Temari grinned up at him churlishly, and he groaned and submitted;

"I just...always used to hear a lot of people gossiping about how you would walk weird directions and stare at invisible things..." He paused. "But I know now it's just the cracks," he added quickly.

He dug around in his mind for more. "But a lot of people said you would talk to yourself in the park..."

Temari laughed aloud. "What? I don't talk to _myself_, I talk to the _kids_."

Shikamaru blinked. "The...kids...?"

"Yeah, I always run into little kids in the park, and they always have a story or two to tell me," Temari admitted meekly.

Shikamaru felt something inside of him soften temporarily. "You...like kids, huh?"

Temari shrugged. "They're a lot nicer than older people..."

Shikamaru watched as her gaze swung away slightly, then she snapped back to him. "Well, what else?"

"Uh...Well..." Shikamaru snapped his fingers. "Oh yeah, there's the rumor that you always say yes to any guy that asks you out, but you always dump him soon after..."

Temari pursed her lips to the side thoughtfully. "...Well, that's pretty true..."

"...Um..." Shikamaru coughed uncomfortably. "...Why?"

Temari twirled her hair prudently between her fingers. "...I don't really know..." she said vaguely. "Sometimes I just do things and I...don't know why..."

She puckered her lips. "I suppose it's because I like to give people _chances_, but..."

"...They all turn out to be..." Shikamaru finished for her.

Temari nodded. "...Not what I have in mind," she agreed, dropping her hair absently.

"Why me?"

Temari and Shikamaru both stiffened in surprise at the words that had come out of Shikamaru's mouth.

Temari raised an eyebrow speculatively at him, and he stuffed his hands in his pockets, just going with what his instincts told him to do.

"Why...me?" he asked again hesitantly. "I mean to say...Why would you take _me_ along with you, here, now...When you were waiting for this your entire life, and you barely know me...? Why would you...?"

Temari suddenly grinned. Shikamaru spotted the spark in her eye as she placed her hands on her hips and said:

"Because you were crying."

Once more, Shikamaru found he couldn't move. His peripheral vision decreased to a hazy fog, swirling around Temari and only her, and her beautiful, terrifying smile. She continued in a bubbly voice:

"Because you were crying, and I wanted to talk to you. You were crying, and I trusted you."

Shikamaru was frozen 'till he felt the blush pool through his face, and he cleared his throat and forced himself to look away from that goddamn smirk.

"That's no reason to make me do something I don't want to do," he muttered, trying not to pout, although it seemed like a good thing to feel at the moment.

"But you did want to."

He twitched, feeling Temari poke his arm playfully.

"This isn't like the Jashians, Shikamaru. You always have a choice. Even if you act like you don't want anything, I _know_ you do. At least _something_."

He heard a slight rise in the tone of her voice. He was right. She was scary. She was horrifying.

But she was so, so beautiful. The things she said, the things she did, the way she did them...

He rubbed the goose bumps off his arms as she murmured;

"I'm going to find out what you want."

* * *

"Whoops, sorry."

"That's alright."

Five minutes later, Temari had run into Deidara on accident. Deidara, who'd had enough of Tobi, had ordered that they split up to search a bit more thoroughly. He grabbed Temari, and stuck Tobi with Shikamaru, who was very put at at the fact but glumly allowed Tobi to drag him along on their quest around the back of the church.

Deidara looked sideways at her. They were walking back through the stone garden on the side of the church, and as they went, he pulled his hood off his head.

"It's alright to be afraid of Hidan," he said. Temari blinked, and felt his blue eyes diving into her own as he admitted with a small laugh, "I get that way too, sometimes."

Temari raised an eyebrow. "H...How did you know I'm afraid of Hidan?"

"Again," Deidara said patiently. "My race learns from touch. When I bumped arms with you, I could read what was in your mind."

They came to a halt by the benches. "Let's take a break," he suggested. "We've been walking for a while now."

Temari nodded in agreement, and they sat among the stone benches. She faced him eagerly. "So your sense of touch...It's really interesting. What's it like?"

Deidara nodded his head to the side, contemplating the inquiry. "Well...It's not capable of seeing _everything_. Just certain facts."

Temari grinned and suddenly grabbed hold of his wrist. "What can you see about me?"

Deidara blinked, then smiled. "You're very brave," he said fondly. "But very kind. You're tough on the outside, but you have a soft heart."

Temari lost her grin, feeling herself blush frantically. She snatched her hand away and stuffed it, along with her other one, in her lap. "Th...Thank you..."

Deidara laughed aloud. "There's no need to thank me. Those are the facts, and that is what I saw. So that is what I said."

Temari felt herself smile. Then she paused. "Well...what can you tell me about _this_?" She suddenly held out her wrist, and showed Deidara the small black dot on the bottom of it. She met his gaze mysteriously. "I've had it since I was a little girl, and I've never known what it is."

She paused. "Also..." she murmured, "I saw one on Shikamaru's wrist recently. Does that have...anything to do with...er, anything...?

Deidara stared at her for a second, before sliding his hand over her wrist. Temari shivered instantly when she felt the slit in his hand swipe over her skin. It was a chilling feeling. Like someone wiping a sweaty palm on her bare shoulder.

Deidara frowned. "It's a translator," he said, seeming slightly fascinated. "I've run into this before."

"A translator?" Temari asked, her voice swooping unwillingly with excitement. "What's that mean?"

"You achieve it when you walk through a crack. It allows you to understand every language that you hear spoken from the dominant species of whatever planet you're on. It also allows you to speak it."

Temari's eyes widened, but Deidara only went on; "Not only that, but it adjusts your entire body to what may have originally been overwhelming, so that you can adapt to your surroundings immediately. You can survive breathing the chemicals in the air, and sense your surroundings in a more familiar way."

"So, like..." Temari thought back wildly to the last planet they'd been on. She recalled Kiba's little house. "An alien's home would look like...a house back on my planet?"

"Exactly. And the air your breathing right now would go through your body just like the air you would on your own planet."

"All from walking through a crack? All from this little black dot?" Temari squirmed in her seat, squealing excitedly. "That's so epic!"

Deidara laughed in amusement and let go of her wrist. "It's a very powerful ability to be able to see a crack in the first place, let alone open it." His blue eyes swam with curiosity. "The power suits you."

Temari blushed once more, but giggled breathlessly. "So...the fact that I've had the translator since I've been a little girl means..."

Deidara shrugged. "It could mean very many things. The one thing it does mean for certain, is that you've had the power to open and close cracks for a very, very long time."

Temari threaded her hands together, trying in vain to contain her excitement. "Wow. If you guys know all this...Then...you're probably _certain_ that there's a god, aren't you...? You're Jashin must really exist!"

Deidara's eyes lost their glimmer, and he looked down at his lap. "To tell the truth..." he said softly, "I'm not so sure anymore if we're looking at that the right way anymore..."

"What do you mean?" Temari asked cautiously.

Deidara frowned. "The Idea of Jashin..." he murmured, "...in my opinion...is that although we can not touch him in one way, we can still touch him in another. There is a way that we can know him, all of him. And that is in believing in him, with our own, free hands."

Temari smiled at that.

"But..." Deidara continued, "...ever since Hidan took over the court, he's been misinterpreting our beleif as something that's absolutely certain. He uses human sacrifice, and bloody rituals, and he's been opening cracks in the universe, altering time and space, and all for Jashin..."

Deidara shook his head, sighing. "It's not right..." he murmured. "It's not what Jashin would want. If he is there, if he does exist, he would want us to use the freedom he gave us to celebrate our beliefs in many different ways, and that includes not believing at all."

Temari nodded slowly. "I always thought that just because you don't believe in something, doesn't mean you don't believe in anything. I believe in...people..."

Her voice faded away, as she felt a small tug on her heart after saying that. "Not that people like me are important, anyways..." she muttered, staring down at herself. Remembering what Shikamaru had said before...

Deidara, looking up, seemed to notice something in her gaze, for he suddenly smiled and took her hand.

Temari twitched and stared in surprise at him. He was staring at with her a strange look in his eyes.

"People _are _important," he said, voice gentle, "And when it comes to you, as a person, the most important thing right now is that boy you're with."

Temari blinked. "You mean Shikamaru?"

Deidara nodded. "Yes, and..."

All at once, Deidara's voice trailed away. At first, Temari didn't realize what he was suddenly stiffening for, but then her mouth slowly dropped open. She felt her heart skip a beat, and her skin went numb.

She had just said Shikamaru's name.

She had just sold him out.

"I-I mean..." Temari gulped and snatched her hand away from Deidara. "I...I dunno why I just called Kankerou that, I g-guess it's because I heard the name before and...and..."

"...Don't bother..."

Temari gasped and twisted around, only to see Tobi standing at the entrance to the stone garden.

Hood sagging over his head, he stood without the bounce he usually had, without the bright electric energy he had possessed before.

"It's too late," he repeated darkly, his voice alarmingly intimidating. "Tobi touched Shikamaru, and I was called out." Temari grit her teeth; it was Madara speaking at the moment. His hooded figure continued; "I've informed Hidan. We know now that your friend was the nonbeliever all along."

Temari's eyes grew huge, her fingers curled into her palms. "Wh...Where is he now...?" she stuttered, trying desperately to stay calm.

Madara's hooded head tilted to the side dangerously.

"He is handcuffed in the cellar behind the church."

He clasped his hands calmly together in front of himself, ignoring Deidara's troubled gaze.

"There he will await his execution."

* * *

Temari's heart hammered in her chest. Around her, the voices of the Jashians echoed in her ears, but she couldn't focus on the particular conversation without wanting to scream, and only because they kept mentioning _her_.

In the main hall of the church there was currently a small crowd of the Jashians surrounding Temari. Madara was down in the cellar guarding Shikamaru, but Deidara was right at her side. He kept touching her arm, probably to reassure her. He was arguing on her behalf and she knew it, but he was very, very alone.

"The girl is to be left be," Hidan was there, calmly debating with the rest of his Jashians. Temari hated him at the moment. She could _tell_ he had known about Shikamaru all along, and he was just teasing them. Giving them false hope. "Deidara, you are too much of a peace lover. I don't understand why you can't drop the subject if we promise to keep this girl, who you've somehow grown attachd to, unharmed," Hidan continued. "The boy, on the other hand, is the nonbeliever, and he must be ridden of!"

"He is more important than you think!" Deidara insisted. "I haven't touched him, but I've touched the girl, I have read what surrounds her, and that boy is—"

"—It doesn't _matter_, if he goes against the Idea of Jashin he must be destroyed!" another Jashin declared viciously. "He's vile, he's immoral, he's disgusting and he has no reason to live!"

Temari fisted her hands furiously, opening her mouth to say something, but at that moment a few hooded figures pressed forwards angrily and pushed her out of the way, getting their own words in.

Temari growled indignantly to herself as she was pushed out of the huddle of Jashians, but then she blinked curiously.

None of them now seemed to realize she was even there. They were too busy arguing with each other over what to do with Shikamaru...

She looked down at the dark, cavernous doorway to the staircase that led down to the cellar. There was no one standing near it, no one even looking at it...

Temari looked back to the crowd of Jashians. Deidara's voice was raised louder than anyone's. He looked over the heads and met Temari's gaze, and one of his blue eyes winked slyly.

Temari smiled. "Thanks Deidara," she whispered to herself very softly as she discreetly slunk back through the doorway to the staircase.

* * *

Shikamaru wasn't bored much. He usually enjoyed free time, usually spent it relaxing or sleeping.

But he had never been unable to fall asleep before in a long stretch of nothing to do.

Here he uncomfortably stood, in what seemed to be a sort of basement for the church. Pipes around him hummed, and the handcuffs attached to his wrist vibrated with water rushing through heaters that stood next to the iron rod the cuffs were hooked up to on the dirty stone wall.

He had never thought of being bored as something so goddamn troublesome.

He yawned loudly, tugging on the handcuffs in vain while resting his free elbow on the iron rod. Looking to his left he eyed Madara, who was organizing religious texts in a small pile on a table he sat at. His back was to the cellar, and his head was turned away from Shikamaru.

Shit. He could have at least been entertaining...

Shikamaru glumly turned his head back to the staircase, and froze at the sight of something moving...

Holy shit...

Temari was sneaking down the staircase, peeking her head around the edge and grinning out across the empty stone cavern to Shikamaru, waving a hand carelessly.

Shikamaru wanted to punch something, but for now, he forced the fact into his head that she, unfortunate as it was, happened to be his one and only hope at the moment.

He glanced at Madara, then back to Temari, and Temari seemed to realize at the same time that Madara was present, and pressed a finger to her lips, pointing another one at Madara and mouthing wildly:

_"Distract him!"_

Shikamaru obeyed automatically. He usually would wonder what she had up her sleeve, but his life was at stake, and he knew it.

"Um...Hey..." he said loudly, and Madara sighed impatiently and looked up.

"What?" he muttered.

"So, um...I was just wondering..." He forced his eyes to stay glued to Madara, but couldn't help but notice vaguely Temari slinking around the staircase, snatching as she did so a large metal wrench. "...Why are handcuffs...always silver...?"

Madara raised an eyebrow simply. Behind his back Temari very slowly and very carefully edged forwards. Shikamaru's palms were beginning to sweat viciously. "...Yeah, why? I mean, why can't they...be, like...blue and sparkly...?"

He cringed inside, but Madara couldn't bluntly question Shikamaru's judgment, because Temari whipped around and brought the wrench down on the back of Madara's head with a sickening cracking sound.

Madara slumped over immediately in his seat, head crashing into the desk and lolling there pathetically.

Shikamaru and Temari stood in silence, staring at each other, then Temari smirked and declared breathlessly, dropping the wrench with gusto: "Back of the neck!"

"Nice!" Shikamaru couldn't help but exclaim, grinning nervously. "Hurry up, help me out of this!"

Temari scampered over, skidding to a halt directly in front of him and grabbing his handcuffed wrist. She frowned. "Um..."

"There should be a key on Madara. A big silver one," Shikamaru said, and Temari nodded and hurried over to Madara, but stopped short. She turned around and frowned at him.

"Not a blue and sparkly one?"

Shikamaru rolled his eyes. "Just _move_!" he ordered furiously.

Temari snickered cruelly and bent over next to Madara who still sat slumped over in the chair. She paused, hands hovering above his cloak. "Ergh..."

"What?" Shikamaru demanded impatiently, frantically glancing back to the staircase every few seconds to see if anyone had figured out Temari had made her way down.

"What if he's not wearing anything under this?"

Shikamaru snapped his attention back to Temari. "You're seriously worried about _that_ at a moment like _this_?" he asked dumbly.

Temari groaned. "It would be _totally_ awful!" She blinked in surprise. "Oh, there's a key around his neck." She removed a long silver chain with a key attached at the end from Madara's unconscious neck and grinned sarcastically. "Thank Jashin!"

Shikamaru smacked his forehead. "I can't _believe_ you!"

_"It's a sign_!"

Temari and Shikamaru both jumped in shock at the sound of a sudden outburst of shouting and banging coming from above them.

_"It's a sign! A sign from Jashin!"_

Temari and Shikamaru both paused. "...A sign from Jashin...?" Shikamaru repeated.

Temari stood up warily. "Do you...really think they found one...?" she whispered.

Shikamaru stared at the dark staircase for a while, but shook his head and turned back to Temari. "It doesn't matter right now."

"But...maybe it does!" Temari gestured to Shikamaru, the key swinging in her hand. "If there really is a god on this planet...if there really is a Jashin...then he can help us!"

Shikamaru gaped at her. "You're kidding!" he cried as quietly as he could. "You really believe these nut-jobs?"

"They know everything just by touching people!" Temari retorted, grinning at him excitedly. "They're geniuses! And they insist so strongly in this Jashin...I mean, could you imagine? A real god? Could you imagine what we could do if we found him? Maybe these people aren't so crazy, maybe we just have to _believe_ and we'll find a way!"

"Just believing isn't good enough!" Shikamaru hissed. "Temari, just unlock these handcuffs and let's get out of here!"

"...I just wanna check it out..." Temari insisted, turning to walk towards the staircase eagerly. "I'll come back for you, I promise..."

"You're kidding!"

"Just wait here, it'll be okay! I swear!" Temari said reassuringly.

Shikamaru stared, open-mouthed, after her. His appalled confusion washed away when he realized she was really serious about this.

And finally, he allowed himself to relax.

He leaned down against the iron rod, resting his chin in his hand. "Wow..." he murmured sadly. Temari paused to listen, but only to see if he had a few meaningful words, and he knew it. He didn't have any meaningful words, not anymore. Just: "It really is hopeless...There really is no point anymore..."

He closed his eyes. "I'm gonna die here, on a planet that's not my own, handcuffed to a wall, for the sake of something that I'm not even sure exists."

He drummed his fingers on the iron rod. He didn't know why he was talking to himself when there was really no use, but once again, he'd realized that talking really felt good after everything that had happened...

"What a pain in the ass..." he muttered. "You wanna know something? I had my entire life planned out before I met you." He laughed grimly and opened his eyes, gesturing to Temari, who stood at the edge of the staircase, staring curiously back at him. "I was gonna grow old, go into the same profession as my father, marry an average girl, and die before her."

He nodded angrily. "But then I met you," he said darkly. "And I decided to walk through a crack in the universe, with _you_." He leaned his head down and stared at his handcuffed wrist. The black dot was still burned onto his skin.

"You said that you knew there was a reason I came with you," he said softly. "You were right. You wanna know why?"

He glowered and looked up at her. Their eyes met, and for a fleeting second they allowed themselves to gaze into each other's souls.

Like they knew each other.

And then he touched her in the one way he could:

"Because you smiled," he said.

Temari grew paler.

"You smiled, and I wanted to talk to you. You smiled, and I trusted you."

Temari stared at Shikamaru in dismay. She was hearing her own words being used by him, in a different way...

Shikamaru sighed. "I still don't know a lot of things," he said quietly. "I still have a lot of questions to ask. I don't know if there's a god or not. I don't know if I'm ever going to be like my dad. I don't know if I'm ever going to marry. Hell, I don't even know if I'll live to be twenty one."

He fisted his handcuffed hand."But one thing I do know for sure," he said firmly, closing his eyes,

"I would never let you die, Temari."

_"Although we can not touch him in one way, we can still touch him in another. There is a way that we can know him, all of him. And that is in believing in him, with our own, free hands."_

"I wouldn't let you die either."

Shikamaru's eyes blinked open, and he looked up at the feeling of something tugging on his handcuffed wrist.

Temari stood in front of him, her lips pursed to the side. She did not meet his gaze, but instead concentrated on the handcuffs she was unlocking with the key.

Shikamaru stared at her in subtle surprise, and when the handcuffs finally clicked free and dropped to the ground, she glanced up at him and rolled her eyes. "Oh don't give me that look," she snapped, letting the keys fly away into the dust. "I'm a human being, after all. What did you expect, after that?"

But Shikamaru smiled nonetheless. "Thanks..." he said awkwardly, rubbing his wrist as Temari led the way, striding towards the staircase.

"Oh come on already. Let's get out of here."

Shikamaru frowned. "How? We don't even know where the crack is."

Temari turned around and smirked. "What do you mean?" She suddenly let her hand drift to the side, and inside of the staircase she opened something white.

Shikamaru gazed in awe as a crack gaped open wide in the middle of the staircase. "It was there?" he asked, shocked. "How could you tell in the dark?"

Temari grinned. "I could feel it." She twisted around contentedly like a dancer and faced the crack. "Hurry up, before they come and catch us."

Shikamaru paused. "Don't you want to know what the 'sign from Jashin' is?"

Temari didn't move. Shikamaru couldn't see her face, but from the back of her head there wasn't much regret. "No," she said. "It's probably something boring anyways. I'm sick of this planet."

Shikamaru felt his lips curl upwards, and he stepped next to her. However, he still had one question left.

"Hey..."

"Hmm...?"

"What's in it for you?" He turned to look down at her. "Converting me into this? How does it help _you_ in any way?"

Temari shrugged. "It doesn't."

Shikamaru scratched his head. "Then why...?"

Temari looked up at him, and suddenly, the glimmer was back in her eye. She pulled a strand of cornsilk hair from her eyes and said slyly:

"It's fun."

"You're...you're crazy." Shikamaru shook his head, bewildered. "You're insane. I knew it."

But he laughed as she nodded happily. It was as if they'd both realized it at last.

And it wasn't that surprising anyways.

Temari leaned forwards, placing a hand on the inside of the crack. Turning over her shoulder she gave Shikamaru a stellar grin.

"That's the fun part."

* * *

N E X T ;

He had her the first time he looked through her.

"So...the plants around here are eating people?"

Like a V e n u s F l y T r a p.

"We need your help."

_He was too tempting. There was too much of him to resist. And he was all hers._

"What makes you think we'll help you?"

**He was infesting her. Soon she would do whatever he wanted.**

**And she wouldn't be herself anymore.**

"You're not dead yet."

—


	7. VENUS FLY TRAP

—

**S E V E N **—  
VENUS FLY TRAP

* * *

**Note**;

—Yeah, yeah, I know. I've been slacking. Like crazy. I just have _so much _on my plate, you wouldn't believe it. College is fucking insane. I'm in way over my head, so many classes, staying up all night studying…Universities don't go easy on you. I do hope you enjoy this chapter, though, I spent a lot of time on it.

* * *

A large square of emerald grass sat behind the big glass house, speckled with clumps of flowers and bushes. The outskirts of the little yard were covered by tall, thick vines, towering long and wide.

Ino picked her way among this little yard, a large black bag held in one gloved hand. Her long blonde hair was pulled into a glossy pony-tail, one silvery-blue eye hidden behind stray bangs.

She smiled cheerfully to herself as she stepped over a small patch of carrots, and slipped over to one of the many beds of roses, basking in the light from the bright blue star that sailed overhead in the opaque sky.

There Ino stopped to crouch down and, still smiling contentedly, she reached forwards and began to yank out some tall weeds that were nestled among the roses' roots, tossing them limply into the black bag.

She continued for a few seconds, but paused when she spotted something else.

Sitting near the end of the bed of roses was a clump of strange green weeds she had never seen before. Ino pursed her lips thoughtfully and crawled forward cautiously to get a peek at this new specimen.

"Is it ragweed...?" she whispered to herself. A gloved finger extended to poke one of the weed's strange tear-shaped leaves. It bounced with the pressure indignantly.

She frowned. "Hmm..."

Ino reached forwards, grasped the plant by the roots, and yanked up. The roots were surprisingly long, she noticed as she shook off the wet dirt that still clung to their limbs.

She threw the weed into the bag, making sure she wasn't leaving any bits of it behind, then got gingerly to her feet and began to make her way out of the garden.

But her foot landed on something other than soil or roses as she backed out of the little square.

Twitching slightly in alarm, Ino lifted her foot immediately to see that she had missed yet _another _clump of the strange new weed, sticking out among a patch of roses. She rolled her eyes and bent down to pull those as well out of the dirt.

"Strange," she muttered breathlessly when she finally got it out; they were particularly stubborn, and hard to keep a good grasp on.

She stood yet again, and gazed out among the small rose bed. No weeds, no stray grasses... Everything was perfect.

She shrugged and smiled to herself, daintily spinning around and waltzing away to the tomatoes.

But before she could tend to the ripe, red bulbs, she stopped herself at a sound.

It was a strange sound. Like stretching fabric, or crinkling cardboard, and it was dampened by the sound of something wet...

She whipped around curiously. Nothing was there that was abnormal. Nothing that could have made that sound.

Ino sighed and placed her hands on her hips. "Daddy, was that you?" she asked loudly. The small garden did not answer. Everything was silent, except for the chirping of the birds and the buzzing of the bugs.

Ino shook her head. Maybe she was hearing things.

And then, she spotted something odd. Right in the same rose garden she'd been attending to before, were three more clumps of the same strange weeds!

"...What...?" Ino asked aloud to herself, raising an eyebrow. "Did I really miss that...?"

She scurried over and immediately got to work. Leaning forward and examining the weeds as she pulled them strenuously out of the ground, she made sure that the roots were completely lifted out of the soil.

By the time she was finished with the weeds her arms were sore and the back of her neck ached, but once she'd scanned the entirety of the rose garden and had seen not a speck of the strange weed, she grinned to herself, proud of a hard day's work, and stood.

She danced away to the tomatoes immediately, excited to see which ones would be ready for picking the next week.

She reached out to one. It glistened in the light from the blue star, and Ino giggled fondly at the way the skin felt when she gently placed the tip of her gloved finger on its fat side. The green stem twirled into the air, thick and pleasing.

"_You_ are going to be my _favorite_," Ino decided giddily. "I can't wait 'till—"

She stopped short. There it was again. The same grinding, stretching, crinkling, wet sound. She stood, frozen, in front of her tomatoes, then slowly turned her head over her shoulder in the direction of where the sound came from, which happened to be the same rose garden as before.

And that rose garden could no longer be considered as such. There wasn't a speck of roses in sight. Instead, climbing up along the garden wall, was a short tower of weeds.

They stretched out, green and hungry. The tear-shaped leaves gaped widely into the air.

Ino's eyes grew huge. She dropped the bag in shock. Opening her mouth she screamed one long, desperate, frustrated word:

"DADDY!"

* * *

It was rare Shikamaru and Temari had the same mindset. At least to Temari, she was an individual, while Shikamaru was, although not quite obviously a conformist, very subtle and tended to just drift with the flow of things. They were very, very different.

So maybe when they said "Wow," simultaneously upon stepping out of the crack, Temari had an idea that they were somehow getting closer.

But that thought slowly slipped out of her head, being replaced by awed questions about the incredible sight before them.

This planet, apparently, was one gigantic garden.

Temari blinked in surprise, taking a step forward from Shikamaru's side to gaze around. They stood on moist, loose soil, tiny sprouts popping up here and there cheerfully. And around them were towers of carrots, tomatoes, zucchini, lettuce, and more that Temari had never even seen before.

It was a forest of garden vegetables. As the crack glowed behind them, shimmering in waves of white light, it reflected off of the plump sides of green beans, and the tall strands of onion sticking out of the ground. Towers of ripe red tomatoes stretched on tall white iron gates to the opaque sky, where a blue star sailed proudly above them, warming them and feeding the healthy plants that surrounded Shikamaru and Temari mercilessly.

Temari heard Shikamaru inhale behind her, and he blew a puff of air through his lips. She turned to face him, and he raised his eyebrows at her. "It smells like…" He chuckled a bit churlishly. "It smells like ozone."

Temari let out a short laugh. "Well obviously theirs is still intact," she agreed breathlessly. She twisted around to observe their surroundings a bit more as Shikamaru took a couple steps forward and fingered one of the large zucchini plants growing at their feet.

Temari glanced at him. "Do you like the smell of plants?" she asked.

He looked up at her and shrugged. "Yeah. It's peaceful." He straightened and stuffed his hands in his pockets. "I've always liked gardens…" he mused, staring up into one of the tall trees that stood half-hidden behind two gigantic walls of tomatoes. The sound of birds and insects hummed and buzzed around them musically, and he smiled a bit.

"Kinda makes you feel fresh, huh?"

"Yeah…" Temari smiled a bit as she watched him. His eyes tilted fondly, the green of the leaves reflected in them so easily. She noticed his cheek bones. They were shaped interestingly, she liked how they weren't too harsh but not too round. His long oval face cupped his pale lips perfectly, letting the frame of his nose stick out at just the right angle to make him look so…

Temari paused for a second and coughed aloud, hurriedly turning back to stare ahead of them. What was _that_? Was she about to admit to herself she thought he was...?

Well…Well, there was nothing wrong with admitting he was attractive, right? She nodded into her chest discreetly, clasping her hands together in front of her. It was perfectly fine to tell herself how his smoky eyes made her feel numb all over, how his muscular arms intoxicated her, how his low, smooth voice sent shivers down her spine…

Temari grit her teeth. "Shit."

"What?"

"Nothing!" Temari smiled stupidly at him and sighed. "Well, the only bad thing about this planet is that we have no idea where the next crack could be hiding, and there are a lot of places for it to be."

Shikamaru frowned. "Or else it could be whoever took Asuma." Temari tilted her head to the side, confused, and Shikamaru gestured to the crack behind them. "I doubt we'll be following cracks forever, Temari. We're looking for Asuma and the guy that took him. Remember?"

Temari stared at him. "…I know, I'm not stupid." She laced her fingers together uneasily.

"…Hey…Shikamaru…?"

"What?"

"…Uh—"

"Oh good!"

Temari and Shikamaru both jumped in utter shock when someone flamboyantly spun out of the bushes to their left and twirled gracefully to a halt. It was an older man with a flashy red suit on over green satin pants and tall white boots. His long blonde hair was pulled into a ponytail, revealing ice-blue eyes and beaming teeth as he grinned out at the two happily.

"The gardeners are here!" he proclaimed, gesturing to them knowingly.

Shikamaru and Temari glanced at each other and yet again spoke at the same time: "What?"

* * *

Inoichi's laugh was absolutely contagious, Temari found. Even Shikamaru's lips twitched slightly as they sat in his gigantic, glass house and watched him chuckle musically. "I'm so sorry, again, for the misunderstanding!" he sang sweetly, wiping tears of mirth away from his eyes and grinning out at them. "I really did believe you were the gardeners we sent for!"

Inoichi, so was the name of the blonde man that had, after calling them gardeners, whisked them away through the rows of carrot fields into his enormous estate hidden by towers of vines. After hurriedly insisting they didn't know _anything _about gardening, Inoichi sat them down and apologized sweetly.

"It's okay, really," Temari said with a small giggle.

"It's probably not the first time someone's made a mistake like that," Shikamaru agreed unenthusiastically, shrugging.

"Oh, it's not the first one Daddy's made, that's for sure." The three sitting on the crimson leather arm chairs dotting a round glass living room looked over to the crystal pillars and saw a petite blonde girl similar in appearance to Inoichi walking into the room, a thin tray balanced delicately in her tiny hand.

Inoichi beamed. "Ino!" He turned to the other two. "Shikamaru, Temari, this is Ino, my beautiful daughter. Isn't she lovely?"

"Oh, Daddy, stop it," Ino snapped, but the pink tinge on her cheeks and the small smirk on her lips indicated that she really adored the attention. She glided over to Shikamaru and Temari and held out her tray. "Have some wheat crackers."

"You have crackers here?" Shikamaru asked, raising an eyebrow and looking down at the tray. Ino gave him a look, and he cleared his throat nervously. "Uh, we're not…from this planet…"

Ino seemed to understand completely and just smiled. "Oh! I can see that now. You both have strange eyes." Shikamaru and Temari each raised a brow, and she shrugged. "You're not the first aliens to come by. Plus, you have the translators."

Shikamaru and Temari both glanced at their wrists. "Well I guess that makes sense," Temari said calmly, snatching up a few of the crackers and fidgeting with them. "But what I'm curious about is why you thought we were gardeners…"

Inoichi snickered cheerfully. "Well we called for gardeners, and people very rarely come out here. I figured only the gardeners would."

"Why did you call for gardeners?" Temari asked, tilting her head to the side. "Seeing all the plants around the front of your house, I figured you two were fine on your own."

Inoichi and Ino both quieted and shared a glance. Ino's eyes leveled to Shikamaru and Temari. When she spoke next, her voice was darker than it had been before. "Maybe I should show you…"

* * *

"What the hell…?" Shikamaru whispered.

He and Temari stood in the back doorway of Ino and Inoichi's enormous glass home. They were with Ino, looking out into what they said was their "backyard".

It was anything but. What Shikamaru saw was a gigantic wall of dark green vines. Humongous leaves he couldn't recognize, spanning out like umbrellas, loomed over them, while moldy tendrils tangled around each other, towering into the air as wide and tall as a small sky scraper. Beyond this, there was absolutely no sign of anything other than this thick jungle. And a foul odor wafted over to them from the black cracks between the stems, an eerie scent similar to that of burning hair.

Shikamaru could feel goose bumps rising on his arms. A chilling feeling washed over him just from looking at this tower of giant weeds. He looked down to Temari, and could see she was getting just as awful a sensation as he. Chewing on her lip, she threaded her fingers together and nervously asked Ino, who was standing behind them somberly, "What is it…?"

Ino slipped between them and walked into the grass of the backyard that stretched about fifteen feet before the front of the tower of weeds, and she said darkly, "They call them the Venans…"

Shikamaru raised an eyebrow. "The what…?"

Ino locked her arms behind her back. Her fingers were tensed, and Shikamaru could tell she didn't like talking about this. "They're a carnivorous race on this planet. They feed on my species, the Yamanakans"

"That thing…" Shikamaru gestured, though he didn't like to, to the tower, "That's a Venan…?"

"No…That's the Venan's lair."

"What _is _a Venan?" Temari asked.

Ino turned around to look at her. Then she gave a tiny sigh, and began: "The Venans are a very rare species. They usually thrive in the jungle regions of the north, but occasionally they slip down to a Yamanakan's home, and there they plant their lair. The weeds come first. They eat a Yamanakan's garden, and the more they eat, the more they grow. They can grow larger in just a few seconds, and they just keep eating and eating and growing and growing until there's nothing left but them."

"Then what do they do?" Temari wondered aloud.

Ino thinned her lips. "They begin to eat themselves." Shikamaru resisted the urge to shudder. Ino continued: "The Venan's weeds first eat the plants, but then they eat moving creatures, such as small local rodents and insects…and the Yamanakans…"

Ino closed her eyes and suddenly addressed Shikamaru and Temari much more directly, eyeing them dangerously as she demanded softly, "Do you want to know why daddy was so confident that you were the gardeners?" She glanced back and forth between the wordless Shikamaru and Temari. "Do you want to know the truth about why there wouldn't be anyone around other than those who were called to come?"

Shikamaru and Temari could find no answer to that, but Ino replied anyways: "Because everyone is afraid," she said quietly. Her voice was distinctly articulate, as if she needed them to understand, completely. "Everyone," she repeated, "is afraid. We are the only ones of our neighborhood that did not move southward. We are the only ones that stayed to tend to our garden. And now, we must move away as well, because we have no garden left to take care of."

"But the tomatoes outside…" Temari tried quietly, but Ino just shook her head.

"They're not going to last much longer." Ino closed her eyes solemnly. "Neither are we if we stay…" she murmured.

Shikamaru shook his head. "Wait, wait…" he said loudly, breaking the mood and holding up his hands. "So, the plants around here are eating people?"

Ino looked at him oddly. "Yes, but only when they're asleep."

Shikamaru stared at her for a few seconds in silence, then cleared his throat. "Well, um…that's pleasant…" He turned to Temari and gave her a look. "Let's get the hell out of here," he whispered beneath his breath.

Obviously Temari was agreeing with him wholeheartedly for once; wrong place, wrong time. She nodded furiously, and the two were about to make up some stupid excuse to leave, when Ino suddenly pleaded,

"Please…" Shikamaru and Temari paused and listened: "We need your help."

Shikamaru winced. Shit. Just the way she said that got to him. He had a weak heart, and he knew it. That was just the kind of voice Temari had used to get him to go along with her on this stupid thing to begin with.

"If we can stop this thing, then maybe Daddy will have second thoughts about moving. Maybe we can stay, and live like we've lived our entire lives."

"What makes you think we'll help you?" Shikamaru asked cautiously.

He turned to look at Ino, whose eyes were dull and patient, but whose face was wrinkled with stress as she admitted bluntly: "You're not dead yet."

Shikamaru and Temari shared a glance. Shikamaru noticed the look in Temari's eyes; a certain familiarity. He heaved a sigh and turned back to Ino.

"What do we have to do?" he asked quietly.

Ino beamed. "You'll help?"

Temari smiled right back, skipping over to stand next to Shikamaru. "Of course!" she said. Shikamaru scowled.

Ino clapped her hands together giddily. "Thank you! Oh, I have to go and tell daddy! If you can help us, we don't have to move, and we can stay here forever and ever and—!"

"—Yeah, yeah, just tell us what to do," Shikamaru muttered impatiently.

Ino nodded, grinning wildly. "Well, the only way I've heard to chase away a Venan is by destroying its lair, and you can only do that from the outside, so it should be relatively simple. We just need more than three people to do it, which is why I'm so glad you're here!"

"Wait, we're chasing it away?" Shikamaru asked uncertainly. "We're not gonna kill it?"

Ino gasped. "Oh, goodness, no! Why on earth would you want to _kill _something?"

Shikamaru raised an eyebrow. "Uh, I dunno, maybe because it's trying to eat you?"

"Shikamaru, don't be rude," Temari hissed. Shikamaru gave her an appalled look which she ignored, as she listened to Ino intently, who was shaking her head piteously, smiling at Shikamaru like he was five years old, which frustrated him immensely.

"Shikamaru," Ino began calmly, "What is the alpha species on your planet Earth? The humans?"

Temari nodded for Shikamaru, who was thoroughly confused, and Ino tilted her head to the side thoughtfully. "Well, the Yamanakans, my species, are also the alpha species of this planet, believe it or not."

"And your point is…?" Shikamaru muttered.

Ino smiled patiently. "Shikamaru, I don't know what your responsibilities are as the alpha on your planet, but on this planet we do not kill. Instead, we nurture, and grow."

"…How does that help _you _guys?" Shikamaru questioned.

Ino shrugged. "Well, think of it this way. When one tree stands next to another, it grows taller than that tree, so that it can kill it and take all the soil and sunlight for itself. And do you know what it does when it's full grown, with all the sunlight and soil at its advantage?"

Shikamaru and Temari were both wordless, so Ino answered for them: "It plants seeds around itself, so that another tree can grow, and take all its sunlight and soil, and kill it."

Ino swept her hair back churlishly, glancing down at the grassy floor beneath them. "I studied humans a while ago when I was still in school," she continued almost conversationally. "And I read that, as the alpha species, although there are a few of you who blatantly kill trees for profit, you use trees for oxygen, which you use to breathe, and to live." Ino looked up at them, and Shikamaru almost shivered at the look in her icy eyes as she murmured darkly:

"What do you think we use the Venans for, Shikamaru?"

* * *

"I can't believe we're doing this," Shikamaru growled. "I can't believe we agreed to this."

"You mean _you_ agreed to this," Temari said. They had been given a job walking around the perimeter of the Venan's lair. Temari held a small velvet package Ino had given them, and a flashlight.

The package, Ino told them, contained a poisonous toxin that could be smelled by a Venan from miles away. If they planted it in the ground at the edge of the Venan's lair on all sides at the same time, she predicted that the Venan would flee.

The flashlight Temari and Shikamaru were confused about at first, as Ino didn't tell them the exact purpose, just that they'd need it. Soon enough, as they rounded the Venan's lair, they realized why.

The lair of the Venan almost seemed to be growing every second. If it was larger the first time Temari saw it, then it certainly was worse now. As she looked up, she could barely see the sun. Just vines, and twigs, and enormous leaves that stuck out like thick green umbrellas.

It was almost like an eclipse, but the sun was green instead of yellow. The air around them was tinted with sour apple colors, and the grass almost looked black. Hidden in the shadow of the Venan's lair, Temari felt like she and Shikamaru would soon be enveloped by complete darkness, and she dreaded staying there.

Voicing her opinion timidly, Temari murmured, "I don't like it here…"

Shikamaru glanced at her as they continued to walk, aiming for a curve in the wall of vines Ino had indicated. "I thought you did."

"I like the gardens," Temari said, swinging the velvet package of poison daintily in her hand. "I don't like…this…" She gestured meekly to the weeds. "I think this was a bad idea…"

Shikamaru stopped shortly. Temari did as well and faced him, and noticed the bewildered look in his eyes. "Well," he said, stuffing his hands in his pockets. He glanced around and laughed a bit, then looked at her closely. "That's a first."

Temari frowned slightly. "Are you trying to imply that I'm naïve?"

"Well you seem to think that everything's a _good _idea," Shikamaru admitted with a shrug. He laughed a bit. "I guess I _am_ trying to say you're naïve."

"Why's that so funny?" Temari pouted.

Shikamaru grinned at that. "Well we're all a little naïve, aren't we?"

"You're trying to make a point about me in particular," Temari reminded him darkly.

He nodded thoughtfully. "Yeah, well, I suppose you're a bit more naïve than others, then."

Temari glowered, and once more, to her infuriation, Shikamaru began to laugh. Throwing her arms down, Temari demanded, "What the hell, what's so funny?"

His chuckles dying down Shikamaru admitted unabashedly, "Nothing, it's just that for someone so annoying you can actually be pretty cute."

Temari froze, but Shikamaru didn't notice. He turned around and said, "Come on," continuing to trudge around the tall weeds.

Something tugged at Temari heart as she watched him take the lead. She never knew happiness could hurt this much…

Swallowing, Temari sped up slightly, trying her best to catch up with Shikamaru, who was, impatient as usual, taking a quick pace.

As he walked and as Temari caught up to stride next to him, he flicked on the flashlight, a refreshing beam casting the way ahead of them. They walked together in silence like this for about a minute longer, when they began to notice something.

"…What's going on here…?" Temari wondered aloud under her breath.

The walls of the Venan's lair they had been skirting had so far only been vines and weeds threaded sloppily around each other. But now, there were significant changes in the texture. There were things caught in the vines. Vegetables, and rocks bigger than their heads. The two actually stopped walking again when they saw an enormous boulder lifted clear off the ground, held in the tangled, messy grasp of the vines.

"…Damn…" Shikamaru said, whistling. "This thing is hungry…It's like a spider web…or a—"

"—Or a Venus Fly Trap" Temari agreed, not letting her eyes stray from the gigantic crevice of rock dangling in the hold of the vines. It hovered little less than three feet above the ground. Temari noticed that there was a shortage of vines here, and she skipped over cautiously, lowered herself to a crouch, and peered under the gap.

It was too dark to see. Just blackness, with an eerie hollow feeling wafting out. Temari covered her mouth from the stench and backed away slowly. "This is creepy…" she said to Shikamaru, letting her hand drop and grab her other one to hold it to her chest, feeling vulnerable. "Way too creepy…"

Shikamaru nodded, exhaling sharply. "Yeah…" He cleared his throat. "Let's keep—"

He paused quite suddenly. Temari raised an eyebrow as Shikamaru went absolutely still. His eyes narrowed, and his lips parted. He stared directly at the gap beneath the boulder.

"What…?" Temari asked carefully.

"Did you hear that?" Shikamaru murmured darkly. He did not look away from the boulder.

"Hear what?"

Shikamaru didn't answer her, but walked slowly and carefully over to the boulder. He stood next to it and gazed at the round side of the thing. "I know I heard something…" he muttered, more to himself than to Temari, who inched her way over to stand next to him.

"What did it sound like?" Temari asked.

"Like a person…" Shikamaru said softly. He placed a hand on the boulder, something Temari felt sick at the idea of doing. "Like they were behind there…"

Temari puckered her lips. "Well that's...a really bad sign…" she said slowly. "And that means we should probably get away from here—"

"—Temari, stop talking to me like I'm stupid. It's just the voice, it sounded really familiar…"

Temari watched the motionless Shikamaru for a few more seconds, before sighing. Realizing that he wasn't intent on leaving until reassured that there was nothing behind this boulder, she pressed her ear to the boulder, ignoring the shivers running down her skin to the best of her ability, and listened. "…I don't hear anything," she noted loudly.

Shikamaru scowled at her, and she smirked. "Calm down, you idiot," she ordered simply, leaning against the boulder casually. "Here, do you want to know a really good trick at finding out if someone's on the other side of something?"

"What?" Shikamaru asked warily.

Temari immediately began to knock against the boulder. Shikamaru glared at her as she finished, pressed a finger to her lips, and listened. Hearing nothing, she smiled and straightened up, gesturing to the boulder for Shikamaru. "Well, looks like no one's there, nobody's knocking back."

"That's not going to work," Shikamaru snapped.

"There's no one there," Temari retorted easily.

And all at once, both jumped; because three short, harsh knocks could be heard distinctly from the other side of the boulder.

Frozen, both let their mouths fall open, and exclaimed: "You were _right_?"

They stared at each other, bewildered, and then automatically pressed their ears to the boulder, listening intently.

For a couple seconds, absolute silence rained, but then three more knocks came from the other side of the boulder. Shikamaru and Temari both straightened up to look at it, eyes huge.

"You heard _that_, right?" Shikamaru demanded, but quietly and constantly alert.

Temari nodded fiercely. "There must be someone behind here!"

"I _told_ you!"

"Oh stop acting like you're five."

"You're one to talk."

"Excuse me?"

"You heard me."

"Well I don't—"

"_Help me!"_

Both froze again, but this time neither jumped. This voice, this echo, again coming from behind the boulder, had a different effect on them. Temari actually felt her entire body go numb for a few seconds, before her adrenaline started pumping through her limbs.

She glanced at Shikamaru. He was staring at the boulder like it was a wounded animal. Worried to go near it, but wanting to help it.

Temari saw his hand twitch and bit her lip. "Shikamaru, I really feel like we should leave it…" she said quietly, putting out an arm and holding it between Shikamaru and the boulder.

"_Is anyone there?" _Temari winced as the voice screamed out yet again. It was a cry of terror, of fear and of pain. It was a man's voice. Desperate, and horrified. _"Please, I'm being held against my will!"_

Shikamaru's eyes were huge. "That's…that's Asuma…" he whispered to himself. He glanced at Temari briefly. "That's Asuma!" he cried, a small smile of relief tugging on his eyes etched with worry. "I know it is! I knew that voice was familiar!"

"No, I don't think it's Asuma, Shikamaru," Temari said quickly, shaking her head and stepping in front of Shikamaru, forcing him back.

"Yes it _is_, I _know _Asuma!" Shikamaru insisted furiously, jumping around her and pounding on the boulder once. "Asuma!"

"_Is someone there?"_

"Is that you? Asuma!"

"_Help me, please, I'm going to die!"_

"Hold on, I'm coming!" Shikamaru glanced around himself wildly, then crouched down and shined the flashlight into the darkness beneath the boulder. Now talking only to himself he whispered frantically, "I can fit through here, and get inside to save Asuma…!"

"Shikamaru, no!" Temari cried, seeing him starting to actually crawl beneath the boulder. She grasped him by the arms and hoisted him to his feet, trying to drag him away. "Stop it, it might be the Venan!"

"Why, of all the other places in his lair, would he choose _here _to stay?" Shikamaru demanded, struggling against her.

"Ino said we shouldn't go inside!"

"I don't _care _what some alien said! Let me go!"

"It could be a trap! You can't just jump right into—"

Shikamaru had had enough. He flung Temari away and into the boulder. She let out an "oof!" when her back hit the stone, and grasped the rough edge of it to keep herself up. Staring at Shikamaru, still feeling the pressure on her shoulders where he'd pushed her, she felt a strange sinking in her chest.

Shikamaru glared right back at her. "I won't let you get in the way of what I came out here for in the first place," he said clearly. It was obvious he felt guilty about pushing her like that, but the look in his eyes said everything Temari needed to know:

She wasn't any more important than his flashlight.

And so, she decided as she straightened up slowly, if she was just his flashlight, she might as well act as one.

"Fine."

Shikamaru, who had turned around to face the boulder, paused and glanced over his shoulder. Temari, a frown upon her face, strode past him elegantly, swinging the bag of poison Ino had given them, and kneeled down. "I'll go first. Light the way in, and don't look up my skirt," she snapped.

She faced the gap beneath the boulder. Felt the warm, foul air floating over to tickle her skin unpleasantly. "Well?" she asked loudly, not looking away from the blackness before her.

She heard Shikamaru slowly crouch down as well behind her, but refused to look at him. She knew what he was like; guilty victory would cloud his eyes, and he'd have a confused, crooked scowl on his face.

She wanted to see that face. So badly. She loved looking at that face. The feelings it gave her. The smile it brought to her lips. Always.

But she denied herself that, and as he lit the way into the Venan's lair, she crawled under the boulder into the cloud of disgust.

* * *

N E X T ;

"_Come on, Temari! Please wake up!"_

**He'd shed off his cowardly **l a y e r s . o f . s k i n** by now.**

"_And then she was gone." _  
"_Did you ever hear from her again?"_  
"_I hear from her every day. I could never forget her voice."_

**She was scaring him.**  
**And he loved it.**

"_I will die here if I have to!"_

—


	8. LAYERS OF SKIN

—

**E I G H T **—  
LAYERS OF SKIN

* * *

**Note**;

—Wow, I feel good about myself. I love quick updates, don't you? Please enjoy the chapter!

—By the way, I thought I'd mention that the _next_ chapter will include incest, puppets and direct quotes from Doctor Who. Quite obviously, to counter these last two chapters which have been rather dark, I'm going to give you something more lighthearted and cute. Look forward to it!

* * *

Everything was black. Shikamaru felt shivers dance along his body, and his breaths sounded louder and heavier than usual, maybe because his surroundings were as silent as they were dark. Unable to see, he slowly dragged himself to his feet, taking care not to touch anything.

The quite pressure dissipated when Shikamaru finally straightened up all the way and turned the flashlight on again. Temari was in front of him, lips thinned, but her stealthy frustration faded temporarily when they were able to look around themselves.

The gap beneath the boulder had led them into what seemed to be a small cavern. Weeds tangled above them, and around them, like dark thorny walls with a matching domed ceiling, the size of a regular bedroom. Greenish dust particles floated in the beam of Shikamaru's flashlight, and when he inhaled, a foul odor could be tasted on his tongue.

"This way," Temari said suddenly. Shikamaru blinked and turned to where she was indicating; it was hard to spot at first, but when he centered the light on it, he could see a small gap in the wall of the weeds, a sort of tunnel.

He turned to Temari, who was already heading over there. She glanced carelessly over her shoulder; Shikamaru saw the strange hardness in her eyes. "It's obvious they went through here," she said simply, gesturing to the tunnel. "Right?"

Shikamaru nodded slowly, and followed after her, lighting the way as she slipped into the tunnel without a moment's hesitation, swinging the bag of poison. He didn't understand why she was suddenly so intent on finding Asuma. Maybe it was the way he pushed her, or yelled at her…

Shikamaru shook his head to himself. No, he didn't need to feel guilty about that. She was in his way, this was _Asuma _they were talking about. Stupid chain smoker, taught him everything he knew…

Shikamaru grit his teeth. He was _not _going to let Asuma die. Never. Not the man he wanted most of all to be proud of him. He was the last person Shikamaru ever wanted to let down.

So he swallowed his fear and guilt, and ducked into the tunnel quickly after Temari.

The tunnel was a tight squeeze, and Shikamaru was instantly reminded of playing hide and seek with Chouji when they were kids, and choosing the closet in his parent's bedroom as his hiding place. There was always a moment where he tried to make himself comfortable for a long wait, then the sound of footsteps outside the door, the way he hampered his breaths, stifled his laughs…

The suffocating feeling was even worse now. Shikamaru forced himself to remember that he could actually die in this situation. It was more terrible than someone yelling cheerfully, "Found you!", this was a true nightmare come to life.

And there was Temari, barreling ahead in front of him. "Temari…" he said aloud, but as quietly as he could manage.

She pretended not to hear him. Shikamaru rolled his eyes, frustrated. He jogged a bit to catch up with her, scraping his arms unpleasantly on the walls of weeds surrounding him, and grabbed her shoulder tightly. "Temari," he repeated.

She whipped around surprisingly fast. "What?" she demanded.

He let go of her. "Slow down a little, we need to think this through."

"Think what through?" Temari scoffed. "Everything's clear as day. He obviously went through here."

"Why would he call for help then leave?" Shikamaru queried. "It doesn't make sense."

"Maybe something was after him."

"Then why are we following it?"

Temari glared at him. "Listen, let's just keep going. If something's there, then…Ow!" She hissed in surprise and looked down at her right arm. Shikamaru cocked an eyebrow in confusion. She looked up and glared at him. "Let go of my wrist, that hurts."

Shikamaru blinked. "What…?" He held up one hand, then the one with the flashlight. He wasn't touching her…

Both let their eyes widen at the same time. Shikamaru slowly and carefully moved the beam of light down to aim it at Temari's wrist. Her eyes, narrowed with awareness, slowly traveled to look at it.

Shikamaru saw it at the same time as she did. A long, thick tendril was curled around Temari's wrist quite tightly.

Both glanced up quickly to stare at each other, and then in the next split-second, it happened. The tendril tightened, and with a scream Temari was pulled away into the wall of weeds.

"NO!" Shikamaru made a mad grab for her, but she was gone. He flung himself at the wall she'd disappeared into, but the weeds had no sooner opened than they closed instantly like a door slamming shut. He slammed his hands into them, reaching through, shouting her name at the top of his lungs. "TEMARI!"

He ignored the scratching of the vines and twigs, and kept reaching for her, sticking his arms all the way through, fighting the thick moldy leaves, coughing at the strong disgusting scent. He could feel nothing but more weeds. He groaned loudly, cursing violently. "God _damn _it!" he yelled furiously. "No, no, _no_!"

He pulled his arms out of the weeds, the flashlight flickering randomly, and hissed, "What do I do?" under his breath. He ran a hand through his hair. Flecks of blood from the scratches on his arm rubbed against his cheek, but he didn't recognize the pain at the moment. "Shit, shit, _shit_…"

He closed his eyes. Felt calmer as soon as he did. Tried to force himself to believe he was watching himself on television, in one of the horror movies he'd watched in a marathon his freshman year. He used to wonder what _he'd _do in those situations. He'd make complex plots and schemes, formulate the best escape tactics. He tried to do this now.

He remembered watching this one flick about a serial killer. A boy had seen his girlfriend get kidnapped by the murderer, and instead of wasting time calling for help, he'd run right after them.

Shikamaru opened his eyes. The terror immediately sunk into him again, his blood ran cold. But staring at the wall Temari had disappeared into, remembering the sound of her scream, his heart started pounding, and his adrenaline swam.

Taking a step forward, he reached the hand that wasn't holding the flashlight into the weeds, and ripped them apart.

* * *

Temari landed on the ground with a thump, the bag of poison flying out of her grasp. Dark, thickly packed soil lay beneath her, twigs and broken sticks scattered here and there and scratching her, along with the bruises and cuts that had been accommodated on her skin from the long wall of weeds the tendril had yanked her through.

She coughed at the pressure of being thrown down, and looked around herself. Absolute blackness. The awful smell was even stronger here, and Temari found herself feeling like she was drowning. She covered her nose and mouth with one hand, and with the other supported herself onto her hands and knees.

Slowly allowing herself to get used to the scent, Temari took her hand away from her face and began to crawl forward, feeling for a wall. She grasped a thick stem with caution, and pulled herself a little higher. She blinked wildly, trying to see something, anything. The occasional hazy shape swam in front of her vision, but other than that just darkness.

"H…Hello…?" she tried. Her voice shook with fear, and she cleared her throat self-consciously then tried again. "Hello?"

Nothing answered her, not even a rustle or a flap. Musty, humid air pressed down around Temari from all sides, and she shivered and wrapped her arms around herself. She felt her throat tighten, and a small sad exhale escaped her lips. "Shikamaru…" she whispered. Maybe the name consoled her, because she knew he was out there, or maybe it just felt good to say something, and that was the only thing on her mind, or maybe she just felt guilty…

She closed her eyes, biting down on her bottom lip, pulling her knees into her chest and hugging herself tightly. "Where am I…?" she asked the nothingness desperately.

And suddenly, she heard a movement. Her eyes snapped open, and she looked around, dragging herself yet again to her cautious position of hands and knees. She didn't know exactly what the sound was. Kind of like a fingernail scratching dry skin. Subtle, and almost barely audible. But it was there, and it was the first time Temari realized there was something in this dark expanse of space with her.

She swallowed hard and crawled forward, eyes straining for something, anything. And finally, they spotted it.

It almost came out of nowhere. A small, tiny, golden orb of light. Temari froze instinctually when she saw it, but it didn't come any closer. It didn't move. It just sat there in midair, roughly the size of a quarter and the color of an original sticky note. Temari gazed at it for a while, then found herself moving forward.

Her hands and knees scraped against the ground, and her skirt rustled uncomfortably. She got closer and closer to the orb of light, until she was right up in front of it. It was at level with her eyes, and so she leaned forward, getting a good look at it. She was unable to recognize it.

Finally, she touched it, very quickly and with the tip of her pointer finger.

Almost instantly a strange sensation overtook her. She felt numbness swim around her body, and her heart felt heavy, like a burden in her chest. And then, the orb got brighter.

At first the glow scared her, but then in sort of intrigued her. It lit up the area around it, and slowly and slowly the entire cavern was lit.

And that was when Temari saw what the orb was.

It was an eye, and the eye was part of a creature that was literally nose-to-nose with her.

Temari shrieked in horror, flinging herself back, but before she even touched the ground, tendrils from the creature grabbed her wrists and pulled her back. They wrapped around her mouth, shutting it and not allowing any sounds to escape. She tried to struggle, but the creature's hands held her down tightly.

While it pulled her to it, Temari's wide eyes got a sight of what it was. It was like a human, but its skin was black and one eye was missing, and around its body was wrapped a sort of plant with sharp edged leaves. Green vines tangled around its arms, the very tendrils that were now holding Temari still.

One hand rose. It glowed momentarily, an eerie yellow that matched its one eye. And then, it was placed on Temari's forehead, and blackness overcame her.

* * *

He couldn't stop moving forward. Everything was suddenly coming to Shikamaru in an incessant flow of distortion. With some sort of savage energy he kept pulling apart the weeds, fighting the thorns and sticks. He knew he was suddenly in some sort of state of delirium, but there was this burning, twitching impatience running through him that he was unable to resist.

The flashlight had by now flickered out. He felt himself get swallowed by the darkness, but kept moving for what seemed like half an hour, only the sound of his heavy breaths, sharp gasps of pain, and snapping branches echoing in his ears.

And that's when I saw it. The light at the end of the tunnel.

The first reaction he had was to laugh. How cliché. He was dying! It was funny, for some reason.

Then he realized that he wasn't dead. The light at the end of the tunnel was just a golden orb. And beneath it, lay Temari.

Shikamaru felt a relieved grin come to his face, and ran forwards into the small cavern he'd finally fought his way into. Temari lay in the dirt under the tiny golden orb that was set into the wall of the weeds, which lit the cavern like a lantern. As Shikamaru scrambled to his knees next to her, he ignored the orb and shook Temari harshly. "Temari…" he whispered. She did not respond. Didn't even blink.

Shikamaru frowned, concerned. He shoved her, hard, and said a little louder, "Temari, come on…"

She didn't flinch in the slightest, and panic quickly sunk in. He grabbed her by the shoulders and lifted her up to him. Pressing his fingers to her neck, he almost laughed in relief when he felt her pulse. He cleared his throat and slapped her face with his hand. "Wake up, Temari…"

And then, he heard something. He stiffened, snatching Temari closer to his chest, and glanced around. The empty cavern of weeds loomed before him. The way out was behind him, where he'd been fighting and scratching to get through. He looked down at Temari and gritted his teeth. "Shit…" he whispered.

He shook her harder. "Come on, Temari! Please wake up!" he pleaded loudly, hearing the strange sound again. He looked around himself and groaned. "Damn it…" He lifted Temari quickly, and clambered to his feet. She was surprisingly light, for someone with a lot of curves, but he only allowed himself to ponder this for a moment before barreling straight into the mess of brambles from whence he came, cradling Temari to his chest as protectively as he could.

The darkness consumed him yet again. He felt the thorns dig into his shoulders and arms, felt them snag on his jeans and tug on the back of his jacket. The foul odor was overwhelming. His chest heaved with every step, and his stomach was twisting with disgust. The vines and leaves rubbed his arms uninvitingly, and blood trickled down his skin.

But it was easier to get out than it was before, and not because he'd already torn himself a path, but because in his arms, he could sense Temari's warmth. Her skin was smooth, and her hair smelled delightful under his chin. He could feel her heartbeat from her wrist pressed to his chest, right up against his heart, which immediately raced to match her rhythm.

He stumbled out into the tunnel, and ran to the cavern they'd been in before, taking care to hold Temari tightly against him. He inhaled her scent, motivating himself. He could now see the crack of light, the way out.

Finally he slammed himself into the ground. He slipped Temari out first, pushed her unconscious body through the three-foot gap under the boulder and out into the safety of the clean air outside. And then, he followed her frantically, scrambling under the boulder and dragging himself out next to her.

When he was finally assured that they were out and safe, he grasped Temari's wrist and fell onto his back on the ground. He panted, staring up at the clouded sky. The weeds blocked the sunlight, and he could still feel their terrible presence, but a small bit of calmness finally sprinkled over his body like an ocean spray. Chest heaving, he tightened his grip on Temari, and closed his eyes, for only a moment.

"Goodness!"

He sat up straight at a voice, eyes flickering open again immediately, only to see Ino standing there, with her hands over her mouth. "Shikamaru!" she cried. "What happened to you two?"

Shikamaru stared at Ino desperately. "Help…" he pleaded, pulling Temari closer. "She won't wake up…"

* * *

Shikamaru had never realized how beautiful Temari really was, until now. And he knew it was the worst time to notice this, but it was true…

He stood at her side. Ino had laid her down in Inoichi's bedroom, a large crystal room with luscious cream curtains and a majestic bed, and here she rested, in an ocean of white silk sheets. Her head was propped upon a sweetly-patterned pillow. Her eyes were closed, lashes neatly folded over smooth lids, golden hair spilled over her forehead. Her nose, turned up uniquely at the end, only moved with her slow, tiny breaths, which escaped her perfectly pink lips, parted only a fraction of a centimeter, allowing a small view of her pearly teeth.

Her arms were folded over her stomach, under a pair of amazing breasts. Shikamaru allowed his eyes to swing across her elegant shoulders to said chest, and felt his stomach tighten slightly. She was perfectly curved, almost like a goddess. Her round hips contrasted nicely with her skinny waist.

Her skirt billowed around her thighs. He had to admit, she had the finest pair of legs he'd ever seen, all coming down to surprisingly small feet, covered, along with her calves, in a pair of boots. He couldn't look away from this girl, bathing unconscious in a pool of green sunlight from the tall glass windows by the canopy bed. Every time her chest rose with an inhale, Shikamaru found himself inching closer and closer to her…

It seemed that, asleep, she was almost more gorgeous than when she was awake. Shikamaru knew there was nothing wrong with admitting she was, well, the prettiest girl he'd ever met. Tons of other men had no problem with it, he knew, so why should he? But the _emotions_ that he was getting! He just couldn't understand himself.

All he knew, was that he liked this. Whatever it was. And he wanted more of it…

The moment of peace was over, however, when Ino glided back into the room. She held two cups of tea, and Shikamaru accepted his politely when she walked over to stand next to him, gazing down at Temari.

"Is she doing alright?"

"Hasn't changed," Shikamaru murmured, massaging the warm teacup between his palms. "She's still breathing. She doesn't seem to be in any pain, but she's not waking up."

Ino puckered her lips, concern clouding her eyes. "Then what I feared is correct."

Shikamaru glanced at her shortly. "What do you mean…?" he asked warily.

Ino looked at him, and sighed. She sat down on the edge of the bed near Temari's side, and indicated Shikamaru should do the same. He obeyed cautiously, and Ino swept her hair out of her eyes and faced him.

"Shikamaru," she said slowly, "do you know why a Venan can only eat a person when the person asleep?" Shikamaru shook his head, and Ino sighed. "That was an awful question, how about this; Do you know _how_ a Venan eats a person…?"

Shikamaru blinked. "…With its mouth…?" he said stupidly.

Ino's lips twitched slightly. "It's more complicated than that," she said. "You see, a Venan has two parts of itself. A part that eats the body…" Ino thinned her lips. "And a part that eats the consciousness…"

Shikamaru's eyes widened. He took a sip of his tea to calm himself, although he knew where she was heading.

"The first step for a Venan to consume someone, is to lure them into its lair," Ino continued. "Usually by mimicking a human's voice." Shikamaru felt himself cringe. "Then, it grabs hold of the person, and separates their consciousness from their body. First, it eats the body. Then, it eats the consciousness."

Shikamaru felt his heart sink into his stomach. "So you're saying…" he whispered, unable to find a strong voice, "…Temari's body is here, but her consciousness is…"

"…Still in the lair, yes," Ino finished for him solemnly. "You're lucky you got her body out, but her consciousness unfortunately didn't make it. As long as the Venan doesn't have the body, it won't be able to eat her or her consciousness, however the consciousness is still trapped."

"Well how do we…get it…back into the body…?" Shikamaru demanded uncertainly, getting to his feet, unable to hold back his anxiety.

Ino put a finger to her bottom lip. "Well, there are stories of people who have been scared back into their bodies…Fear is a strong emotion, and one of the only things that can wake people out of dreams…" She shook her head, sighing. "But those are just urban legends."

"Is there any _reliable _source?" Shikamaru asked.

Ino glanced up at him. "…That's what I'll have to look for…" she murmured.

* * *

Temari figured, when she opened her eyes next and everything _wasn't _black, she should have been thankful for the ability to see.

However, she was almost more unsettled than when it was black. She was in a small, white room. No doors. No windows. No nothing. Everything was white, the ceiling, walls and floor. A kind of white she couldn't recognize.

Temari pulled herself up. The ceiling was low, so she didn't bother standing for fear of having to crouch. She looked around herself, blinking savagely. She tried talking, just to see if she was okay: "…Hello…?" She felt shaky, like she'd woken up from a bad dream. There was a terrible feeling in her gut.

And yet again, she heard a sound.

Temari darted onto her hands and knees yet again in terror. It was the same sound from before, only this time it sounded more fluid, more clear, and maybe because she could see now. She turned around on the spot clumsily, spotting absolutely nothing. Not even that orb of yellow light.

But then she heard the sound, and she could locate it; directly behind her.

She spun around sharply, and seeing nothing stumbled backwards. She pressed herself into the wall, eyes wide and not blinking. Her chest heaved, and she tried to calm herself. There wasn't anything visible in the room, she tried to convince herself at first.

But then, she realized what she was leaning against.

She slowly turned her head over her shoulder, and there it was. The same creature, and this time, instead of black, it was white, and its eye was dark and vicious. It came out of the wall behind her like it was part of it, and reached for Temari with long-fingered hands.

Temari whimpered in shock and tore herself away from it, throwing herself into the other side of the room. The creature reared up. Its sharp pointed teeth leered out at her almost mockingly. Temari swallowed her terror and demanded meekly, "Who are you?"

"My name…?" the creature asked. Its voice was low and trembled with giddiness. At what, Temari couldn't tell, because it swooped over to her liquidly. Temari flung herself against the wall, pressing herself into it, wishing she could find an escape. The creature leaned down so it was staring directly into her eyes. Its foul breath stank of garbage.

"My name is Zetsu…" it whispered to her.

Temari gulped. Zetsu noticed. His eye traveled down to her hands, which were shaking. His smile grew. "You're afraid," he observed. "Don't be. I'm not going kill you."

Temari regained her breath, finding a small sense of relief filling her up upon hearing this. "So…So what, is this Good Cop Bad Cop?" she asked. It was a joke. Maybe to make herself feel better.

Zetsu, however, was not pleased. Automatically his hand darted forward and enclosed around her neck. Temari gasped; he didn't squeeze, and didn't strangle, but his grip was icy cold and threatening. He tilted her face up to examine her. "I'm not going to kill you…_yet_," he completed his earlier sentence. Temari's heart sank. "And that doesn't mean I won't hurt you…"

Temari felt her adrenaline race. Immediately she thought of something, anything, to distract him from the subject, so she asked, her voice swooping to the best of her ability in a calm, respectable way, "So if you're Zetsu…who was the other guy…?"

Zetsu tilted his head to the side. "He was Zetsu…" he murmured. "He was me…"

Temari narrowed her eyes, confused, and Zetsu laid his thumb on her cheek gently. "I am the other Zetsu," he said calmly. "Just like you are the other you."

Temari's breathing sharpened. "What do you mean…?"

"I mean to say, that we all have two of us," Zetsu said. "Two layers. We try to fight the hidden one, but it's the unfortunate truth that we all have a rotten core…" Temari stared at him, contemplating what he meant. Zetsu nodded. "We're all evil, deep inside…And our greatest fears bring out the worst in us…"

Temari grit her teeth. "I don't think that's true…"

"Oh?"

"Yeah. I don't believe in evil."

Zetsu lost his smile.

Temari coughed in surprise when his hand suddenly tightened around her throat. Hoisting her up by the neck, he threw her to the side as violently as he could.

Temari slammed into the wall, and crumpled to the floor. Gasping and choking for breath, she held herself up on her elbow and clutched her throat. She turned her face, covered in locks of stray hair, to Zetsu, eyes pleading for reason.

But Zetsu had no pity for that face. He swept over, and slapped it. She cried out in pain, but he only slapped her again for the annoying noise. Satisfied with the image of her cowering from him, he stood back to shadow over her, murmuring, "When we find your sweet body, I'll finally finish you off. But for now, I'm going to make you take that little remark back."

Temari blinked away the tears of pain, tried to ignore the bruises. But her petrified whimpers came with each breath, and she dropped to the ground completely, hugging herself, as Zetsu drew back his hand, rearing for another slap.

"Shikamaru, help me…" she whispered hoarsely.

* * *

When Shikamaru had had enough of sitting still in the Yamanakan's living room staring at glass ceilings and rose-embedded ornaments, he seized the opportunity to take a small stroll (after getting lost a few times) to the front yard of the Yamanakans.

Here, Ino sat, reading through a pile of books she told Shikamaru she'd studied in school. Shikamaru could read them, but he knew without the translator the characters would be strange and unrecognizable, and he also understood there were things he couldn't possibly understand scripted within the books anyhow, so he allowed Ino to research by herself.

As he slipped through the marble pillars dotting the porch, he asked Ino, who was folded on the stairs, "How's it going…?"

She didn't look up from the books, but said through her thick curtain of blonde hair, "I'm getting somewhere…Is daddy still watching Temari?"

Inoichi had been ordered by his daughter to drop his afternoon herbal tea and keep guard over Temari's sleeping body in his bedroom, which he reluctantly agreed to. Last time Shikamaru saw him, he'd been grumbling by the front door of the room, but he was there, so Shikamaru nodded and said, "Generally."

"Good." Ino heaved a sigh and placed the open book on her lap, marking her spot. She glanced at Shikamaru. "Are you alright?"

He clasped his hands together, sitting down as well a step above her. "Just trying to stay calm."

"Are you worried?"

Shikamaru puckered his lips hesitantly. He wasn't quite ready to admit that yes, he was worried out of his mind, for this strange girl that was dragging him along on a journey he wouldn't have even been able to imagine. But she was his companion, however unfortunate, and a human being, however unseemly, so nonetheless he admitted, "Yeah…"

Ino smiled. She turned to him interestedly. "What does she mean to you?"

"Hey, is that a cherry blossom tree?"

Shikamaru winced automatically. He knew he was being rude, changing the subject so automatically; in fact he didn't even remember why he did. But the tiny tree sitting at the side of the porch cheerfully _did _distract him. It came about up to his waist when standing, and the thin little branches seemed sturdy and excited to grow.

Ino smiled, however, seeming not to notice Shikamaru's quick switch, and nodded. "Yes." She turned to look at the tree as well, a fond gleam in her eyes. "I planted it for my lover."

Shikamaru nodded understandably. "Oh…What's his name?"

Ino giggled a bit. "_Her _name," she corrected Shikamaru. He blinked in surprise. Ino continued: "Her name is…or was, I should say…Sakura…"

"Huh…" Shikamaru had met a few sgay couples in his life, so this was no surprise to him, but he didn't know aliens could be gay too. Of course, he hadn't known aliens existed either, he reminded himself, and coughed a bit. "She must be…er, must _have_ _been_…very pretty…"

Ino scoffed suddenly and glowered. "Oh, no," she said dryly. "She was hideous." Shikamaru raised an eyebrow as Ino shook her head in shame. "She had pink hair, and buggy green eyes, and a flat chest, and a fat waist…And her temper was _terrible_, it was like she couldn't control herself! She was almost _always _angry about something, she was _never _satisfied!"

Shikamaru was momentarily stunned. Did people really talk about their lovers like this?

However, a second later, Ino's hard glare softened, and she murmured, "But…When she _was _happy…" Ino's lips curled upwards, "When she gave me that rare smile…Everything was so much sweeter in my life…"

Shikamaru slowly allowed himself to relax. He thought he could understand. For some reason…

Ino sighed, turning back to the books. "And then she was gone," she murmured. Her eyes traveled out into the distance, past the tomato vines and corn stalks. "The last thing I saw was her back…Walking away from me…"

Shikamaru stared at Ino, bewildered. "Did you ever hear from her again?"

Ino blinked and turned to Shikamaru. She laughed giddily. "You humans are so indifferent," she said piteously, shaking her head. "I hear from her _every day_…I could never forget her voice…" For a few moments she gazed at her hands in silence, then she pulled her hair out of her face and rolled her shoulders enthusiastically, saying, "Well, that's all there is to me…What about you?" She faced Shikamaru with a calm smile. "You sure know your cherry blossom trees, huh?"

Shikamaru shrugged. "My mom was always fond of growing things. She used to make me help her with her trees and flowers…" Shikamaru chuckled a bit at the memory. "I remember she'd always get mad at me for zoning out and watering them for too long; Said I was gonna 'over-water' them." He shook his head in scorn and complied of Ino, "_Can _you over-water a plant?"

Ino nodded deeply. "Yes, in fact, other than pulling it out, it's the fastest way to uproot it."

"Huh." Shikamaru contemplated this new fact, and stillness fell upon the two of them.

But not for long. Soon, they both stiffened. They turned their faces towards each other very slowly at the same time, a similar gleam in their eyes.

They shared a grin. "Ino," Shikamaru said carefully, "Do you own a hose?"

* * *

Temari had been given many tactics with which to fight back. She'd been told to go for the eyes; well this thing had only one, and she was too afraid to touch it. She'd been told to kick the crotch; she was unsure if this creature even had genitals, or where they'd be located, and she was too afraid to find out. She was even too afraid to struggle.

Fear was holding her back.

She dragged herself along the wall, desperately attempting to get away from Zetsu. She felt blood spilling out of a long scrape on her cheek. Her heart pounded in her chest, pain vibrated through her bones. Bruises dotted all along her skin.

One of Zetsu's tendrils coiled out and grasped her ankle, pulling her back. She groaned in pain, feeling the thorns. She spotted a thorn about the size of her finger, huge and thick, sticking out of the vine around her ankle, barely missing her skin.

Zetsu's hands grasped her wrists and twisted her around to face him, sitting her up against the wall. He leaned in, breath stale and musty, and whispered darkly, "You are a foolish girl." He slammed her head against the wall. Temari yelled at the sharp sting that exploded in the back of her head. "You are an ugly girl. You don't deserve to live."

Temari fought the salty tears that brimmed in her eyes. She forced back the sobs building in the bottom of her throat. She tasted blood on her tongue.

She kept holding on, though. She didn't dare give up. She gave Zetsu a glare, and forced herself to keep thinking about Shikamaru. He was out there. He was _there_. She believed in his existence, she _knew _he was somewhere, he would come, he would save her…

"_You're the most annoying person I've ever met."_

Temari felt her body freeze over. _"You're kind of beautiful, but you've also got to be the ugliest person ever born."_ Everything felt cold. _"You have terrible self-control and an awful sense of humor."_

Shikamaru's voice echoed in her head:

"_You have absolutely no level of temper, and you get fired up at the smallest thing. You're a complete idiot. You don't have any friends. You're insensitive. You're a freak. After this is over, I don't want anything to do with you."_

* * *

There were a lot of things about Temari that were unique, and one of them was that she had a great memory.

She could still remember the feeling of her mother's warm hand, even though she was three years old the last time she saw her mother, before the woman had died giving birth to Temari's youngest brother. She could still remember her father's long shadow, and how lonely she was without it when he was murdered two years ago, at the expense of the family fortune.

She could still see her step-mother's stern face, who resented Kankerou for being gay, punished Gaara for failing in school, and sheltered Temari, pampering her for being the oldest and most expected to take on the family tradition. She could still see the disapproving eyes of her schoolmates, as they whispered about her strange ways and awkward behavior.

She could still smell the sharp, unpleasant odor of the doctor that had said she was mentally unstable, unhealthy, and emotionally unbalanced. She could still hear the music playing at her grandmother's funeral, where she'd sat alone, reminiscing of the stories her grandmother had told her about the cracks in the universe, and the adventures they led to…

She could still remember Shikamaru saying in her head, time and time again: _"After this is over, I don't want anything to do with you."_

There were a lot of things about Temari that were unique, and another of them was that Temari hadn't really cried since she was three years old.

She remembered that.

And she wasn't about to break this tradition now.

* * *

"Tell me again why we need two people for this," Shikamaru said as he was whisked through the Yamanakan's house behind Ino hurriedly.

"Because we need to at least _attempt_ to surround the Venan's lair!" Ino explained. As if it was obvious. Shikamaru rolled his eyes and let her drag him harshly by the wrist into their gigantic dining room, almost banging his head on one of the many crystal chandeliers. "Daddy?" Ino shouted, voice echoing off the glass walls. "Where did we put the hose again?"

There was no answer. As Ino searched the dining room, she yelled again: "Daddy?"

Shikamaru then noticed the eerie lack of grouching that had before been coming from the master bedroom. He and Ino exchanged a look, and Ino thrust past him into the hallway. Shikamaru followed her close behind as they made their way to the bedroom quickly, and although he tried to force himself to think of other options, the sinking feeling in his gut told him he already knew what was coming…

When they got into the doorway of the bedroom, there lay Ino's father on the floor, unconscious.

"DADDY!" Ino screamed, and dropped down to her knees next to him, clutching him frantically. Instantly his eyes flickered open, and he whisked into a sitting position, panting and gazing around himself with wide eyes.

"I…Ino…" he whispered.

"Daddy, my goodness, are you alright?"

"I'm fine, I'm fine, but…"

Shikamaru didn't want to hear it. He leapt over the two and sprinted into the bedroom, hoping to see Temari's sleeping form still in the bed.

Instead there lay a couple crumpled sheets, and broken glass, for the crystal windows next to her had been broken. Shikamaru glanced down on the floor and picked up a thorn; the same kind that had been on the vines in the Venan's lair.

He turned around, feeling the panic sinking in, to face Inoichi on the ground, Ino pampering him with concern. Inoichi's eyes clouded in guilt. "I...I swear, I was watching her…" he whispered, "But a vine, it just broke through the windows and began to choke me…" Ino's hands flew to her mouth, and Inoichi stroked his throat, where Shikamaru could see red bruises. "I could barely breath…" he said, closing his eyes at the awful memory. "I tried to stop it from taking the girl, I really did…But I just feinted…"

His eyes opened, and he gazed at Shikamaru pleadingly. "I'm so sorry…" he said softly.

"It's not your fault, daddy," Ino murmured, stroking his hair. She continued to convince him he was innocent, while Shikamaru spaced out and couldn't hear a word she said. He was thinking about Temari. About the things he'd said to her.

He'd called her a freak. To her _face_.

Was that really going to be the last thing he ever said to that glimmering smile? That pair of sky-blue eyes? That deep, gentle voice?

The most beautiful thing he'd _ever _seen.

No.

Shikamaru grit his teeth.

_No_.

He barely understood what he was doing. Running forwards to the desk by the bed, he snatched up the lantern that sat on the edge of it, and with a controlled jump, he sprinted out of the broken window and into the fresh grass outside.

"Shikamaru, no!" he heard Ino cry behind him, but he didn't stop. He kept running around the house towards the backyard. He could see the tip of the Venan's lair over the peaks of the glass buildings, and found himself so angry at it, he could barely think straight.

He was _not _going to let Temari go with the impression that he was a _douche bag_.

* * *

Temari reached for the vine wrapped around her ankle. That was the first thing she went for because it was the thing that was hampering her down the most. She made sure she was quick, because Zetsu was quicker, although she knew if she could pull hard, she would win.

And she did.

She yanked at the thorn on the vine, the long one she'd noticed earlier, as thick and tall as her pointer finger. It broke off with a snap.

Zetsu hissed and flung her away from him, but even as she hit the floor she kept her fist clenched around the thorn.

Zetsu glided over to her in an instant, not intent on letting her have a moment's peace, but Temari jumped up to her knees and sliced the thorn through the air towards him.

And she was immediately pleased at what she saw. Zetsu flinched.

It was a tiny flinch. One Temari barely caught. But oh, she did, and she smirked at him, pleased. This meant that Zetsu was scared. This meant that Zetsu was a coward. This meant that Zetsu was vulnerable.

Temari lashed out at him yet again with the thorn. Zetsu slunk backwards, dodging the blow, and Temari advanced once more.

But she let her glee at his small pause get the best of her, for while reaching out a third time to try and slice at his head, Zetsu's hand darted out and grabbed her wrist.

Temari's eyes widened, and Zetsu pulled her closer. She struggled violently as Zetsu pressed her straight up to his chest, but he would not let her go. His foul stench enveloped her senses, weakening her. Zetsu yanked her up to his height and stared into her eyes.

"What," he whispered, ", are you doing?"

"It's called self defense, you jackass," Temari gasped, furious despite the horror and dread filling her heart. "I'm trying to protect myself from you."

Zetsu's pale lips thinned, and he stared deeply into her eyes with his single black orb. "You're an interesting specimen…" he whispered. "A unique subject of prey…"

"Then let me live and continue to be 'interesting'," Temari snapped in a mocking voice. She'd had enough of watching her tongue around him, when all it got her was pain. She hated this thing, with all her heart.

Zetsu did not move. He watched her for a few seconds longer. "What, girl, do you think you are?"

Temari glared at him.

And finally, her hands swooped down, and brought the thorn into Zetsu's shoulder.

Zetsu dropped her automatically. He made no noise of pain, but he stared at the thorn in his shoulder almost in shock. His head slowly turned back up to Temari, who threw herself back from him. However, she quickly drew herself back up proudly, and declared, "A human being."

And a second later, another strong voice filled the air:

"_Let her go."_

Temari blinked in surprise. Zetsu vanished.

Temari looked around. "What…?" she whispered. Why did Zetsu leave? Why was she alone? What was that voice…?

It sounded like…

"…Shikamaru…?" she asked quietly.

"_Let her go."_

Temari suddenly felt very weak. She dropped to the ground. The blood from her mouth caked her tongue, and suddenly tasted very acrid. The scrapes and cuts and gashes on her arms and cheeks suddenly stung in an army of discomfort. The bruises suddenly pounded through her bones, giving her a wash-over of dizzying pain. She felt sick to her stomach.

"Sh…Shikamaru…?" she gasped. She could barely breathe.

"_Temari, can you hear me? Listen to me, wherever you are, it's going to be okay. I'm gonna get you out of here."_

And despite everything, Temari felt her cracked lips curl back in a huge grin.

* * *

Shikamaru didn't know how he'd gotten back into the lair. But standing there with the lantern, in the cavern he'd thought through thickets to, facing this Venan, he felt stronger than he ever had before.

The Venan turned to look at him. It held Temari's lifeless body in its dirty hands; she looked so clean and bright compared to this filthy monstrous being. Its golden eye fixed upon Shikamaru, who swallowed his shivers and pointed the lantern at it.

"You heard me," Shikamaru said, trying to control his voice. "Let her go, _now_."

The Venan sneered, like it was witnessing a great joke. "Or what?" he sneered.

Fortunately, Shikamaru did not need to answer that.

A great wash of water swept through the vines. The Venan's eye grew large, and he spun around to stare at the wall of Vines behind him, which suddenly came crashing down.

Shikamaru winced at the sight. It was like half a waterfall was suddenly being rained down on them from the sky. Sunlight cracked through, inch by inch, as the soggy vines, unable to hold themselves up, came crashing down. The Venan turned to Shikamaru, seeming appalled, and Shikamaru smirked.

"Thanks Ino," he murmured beneath his breath, as water rained down upon him in a refreshing sprinkle, drenching his clothes and hair.

The Venan glared at Shikamaru, but dropped Temari, and fled into another tunnel of vines, retreating.

Shikamaru made sure he was gone, before dashing forwards and dropping down near Temari.

The sound of the vines and water crashing around them was deafening, and Shikamaru glanced up at the ceiling of vines above them, fearing their sudden cave-in. Sunlight illuminated Temari's unconscious face, and Temari pushed back some of her sopping golden hair. "Temari…" he called over the rushing sounds. "Please, come on…I _know _you can hear me…"

He stared at her face, her pink lips and perfectly sculpted cheeks. "Hey…" he murmured to her sleeping form. "…I'm not trying to take back everything I've ever said to you, but…Just to let you know, I said that I would never let you die for a reason…and that's not because I think you're annoying, or freakish, or any of that bullshit, it's because I think you're…really pretty, and really smart, and…" He laughed sheepishly. "I guess I think it's cool that you're so nice to kids…"

He heaved a sigh. For some reason, even in his ice-cold, dripping wet, bloody and bruised state, he felt relaxed when talking to her. As usual. "Temari," he said sternly. "I'm not leaving this spot until you open your eyes."

She did not respond. Frustrated, Shikamaru pulled some of his soggy hair out of the way. "Damn it," he snapped, "I will die here if I have to!"

The next thing he saw was sky blue.

Shikamaru felt his entire body freeze over. As Temari blinked up at him, cradled in his arms, he suddenly couldn't feel the pain, or hear the water, or smell the foulness, or even see the darkness.

Speechlessly, he helped her sit up a little. She was shivering, and covered in bruises and scrapes, but she looked around herself, and then up to Shikamaru, and asked curiously, "Why am I all wet…?"

Shikamaru could do nothing but let out a loud, stupid laugh, and grab her to hug her tightly. She stiffened a little in surprise, but did nothing to stop him as he held her close. Chuckling, he cried:

"I have never been so happy to see you."

* * *

And Temari's heart burst.

She bent forward and allowed her tears to flood out freely, sobbing into his chest. She felt Shikamaru stiffen, surprised, and she shook her head, wiping her face furiously, but not stopping the weeping. She looked up at Shikamaru and admitted stupidly between wet sobs, "I-I haven't cried since I was three years old…"

He stared down at her, blinking, confused. But his hand slowly drifted to the back of her head, allowing her to sniffle as he stroked her hair consolingly, hesitantly. "Are you okay…?"

She nodded, calming her staggered breaths. Her chest felt like something was spilling out of it, but her tears were stopping and her eyes weren't stinging anymore. She inhaled deeply. "I'm fine," she murmured. She glanced up at Shikamaru. "Where…where are we?"

"Still in the lair," he said, looking around.

"…Still?"

"It's alright, we can get out," Shikamaru added quickly. He looked down at her inquiringly. "Can you stand?"

"Who do you think I am?" she snapped. She pushed his hands off of her and clambered to her feet. She felt dizzy as soon as she did, but put a hand to her head and steadied herself on Shikamaru's arm as he followed suit. "Let's go, _please_," she said darkly, not wanting to see the dark vines and leaves surrounding her.

"Wait…" Temari looked behind herself at Shikamaru, and saw what he was pointing at.

A crack of vines had opened, allowing them to see out of the lair and into the hills behind. Sitting in between two tiny crevaces was a glowing white figure…

"…The crack…!" Temari gasped.

Shikamaru coughed. "I think we should dry off first before we go to it…" he suggested, looking up at the impending ceiling of weeds.

Temari sighed. "Good idea…lead the way…"

Shikamaru nodded, and took her arm gently in his hand. "Follow me, and be careful." Temari glanced at his hand on her, and he shrugged. "You think I'm letting go of you after what happened last time?"

Temari felt an uninvited smile flit across her lips as he cautiously pushed her forwards through slime and mud. Water fell on them like rain, but Temari could think of nothing but Shikamaru's warm hand on her as he guided her through thorns and muck and thick leaves.

When finally they stumbled out into the sunlight of Ino's backyard, she was there, with an absolutely enormous hose. She beamed and dropped it as soon as she got sight of them. "You're alright! Oh, I can't believe it!" she shrieked happily. "And you chased away my Venan, how could I _ever _thank you enough?"

Shikamaru and Temari glanced at each other breathlessly, allowing them to really see the state they were in.

Both were drenched from head to foot in icy cold water. Their hair, by now out of any style it had been in, was pressed damp to their faces, straying in their eyes. Specks of mud, grime, vines, thorns, leaves and mold were scattering along their hair and bodies like polka-dots. Their faces, arms, and most of their skin were scratched and torn, blood oozing from scrapes as long as footballs, and bruises speckled them here and there. Their clothes were shredded, gaping holes in their shirts. Temari's skirt was snagged, and Shikamaru's jeans were filthy.

Shikamaru cleared his throat. "Uh…Do you have a shower?"

Ino grinned. "Two of them!"

* * *

"You have good taste."

"I know."

Shikamaru and Temari stood in front of a giant glass mirror in Ino's bedroom. For helping get rid of the Venan, Ino and her father had lent them their showers (although it took a long time for both to learn how to use them) and their clothes.

What was very out of character for Shikamaru, was he was delighted at the prospect of new clothes, and even demanded that he choose an outfit for Temari, which she stood in now, observing herself. She wore a white blouse with sleeves going down to her elbows, black shorts, black hose, and black boots going up to her knees. Her hair, after being dried and perfected, was pulled back in a ponytail with a white ribbon.

Shikamaru himself had a simpler approach, just a white button-up shirt and jeans, with black shoes. His hair was down, but his bangs were pulled back out of his eyes in a half-pony that Temari had to admit looked great on him.

"You really know fashion," she complimented again. "You sure you're not gay?"

"Don't even say that," Shikamaru snapped, turning his nose up at the idea. "I just hate people that are eye-sores, that's all. They're troublesome. People that know how to dress well are easier to look at."

Temari laughed. "I guess that's a good excuse, for you."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Temari didn't answer, for Ino walked into the bedroom soon. She giggled. "You two look great! I knew you'd fit!"

"You had closets the size of my bedroom," Shikamaru reminded her. "There were sizes for almost everyone…"

Ino just laughed the remark off and stopped before them, her arms locked behind her back. "Well, before you went away into the crack, I just wanted to give you a little present."

"It's fine," Temari insisted sweetly. "You already gave us your clothes."

"No, no, this is necessary!" Ino cried. "I grew them myself!" She then with a flourish revealed in her hands a handful of roses. Their red petals looked like satin, their green stems gleamed in the lamplight.

Temari gasped in awe and accepted them gingerly. "They're so pretty!"

Ino blushed, delighted. "They're picked directly from my favorite garden!"

"Ah, so that's where they went!" Inoichi suddenly rounded the corner, and gasped at the sight of Temari holding the roses. "Well, aren't you beautiful!"

Temari's face turned red and she shook her head bashfully, but Inoichi smirked and gestured her over. She walked over nervously, and he pointed to one of the books hidden in the shelves on the wall, exclaiming that she looked exactly like the character on the cover.

While Temari modestly tried to claim she looked nothing like her, Ino inched over to Shikamaru, who blinked at her uncomfortably. "So…" she said slyly under her breath. "You never answered my question."

"…What question…?"

Ino turned to smirk at Shikamaru. "What does she mean to you?" She gestured to Temari, and Shikamaru heaved a sigh.

He watched the girl, as she laughed at something Inoichi was saying. Her eyes sparkled with mirth. So alive…

Ino watched Shikamaru for a few seconds, before he murmured, "A lot, I guess…"

Then she smiled and walked over to Temari and her father, saying sweetly, "Daddy, come on, the backyard needs to be re-grown!"

"Aha, of course!" Inoichi replaced the book in the shelf, then turned to Temari and Shikamaru. "Thank you both, very much. Shikamaru, you're very brave." Shikamaru scowled. "And Temari…" Inoichi suddenly snatched one of the roses out of her hands, and delicately placed it in her hair. "No matter what anyone says," he told her, "remember how beautiful you are."

* * *

"Well, that was successful."

Temari glanced up at Shikamaru. They were trudging side by side towards the crack which still sat invitingly in the hills. The sun now seemed a bit brighter, and with the slowly decaying vines, everything was once again beautiful and green and luscious.

"And how would you anything in our context be successful?" Temari queried reasonably, smiling teasingly at him.

He shrugged. "Well, we chased away the monster, saved the aliens, learned something new, and look good." He nodded to her. "Success."

Temari laughed at his little joke. "That's your definition of success?"

"At the moment, yes," Shikamaru defended himself, pouting churlishly. They stopped in front of the crack, and Temari faced it.

"Well then," she said, and turned her head over her shoulder.

Shikamaru noticed the grin on it. So unlike the angry, stiff face he'd seen before.

The smile, that made everything sweeter…

She held out her hand to him, and declared happily:

"Onwards to success!"

* * *

N E X T ;

"It was written that this was how our world would end."

**They were no match for destiny.**

"You _have _free will, you're just too afraid to face it!"

**They were all just **p u p p e t s **of fate.  
The fire would consume them soon.  
**"We're all going to die."

—


	9. PUPPETS

—

**N I N E **—  
PUPPETS

* * *

**Note**;

—I hope you all had a great holiday, because I did. But yeah, I last updated in ohshit, early November, fuckmylife.  
—So, here comes the Doctor Who and the incest I was talking about, two things guaranteed to make you drool. I can't blame you, no one can deny the sexy.  
—I was quite inspired by the Doctor Who Christmas Special to write this planet, which was simply amazing, so that's how I added the underwater part to the mix.  
—Okay, I know I promised this would be short but I just…couldn't help myself and I had to draw it out, as usual. So yeah, fuckmylifeagain. But I _can _promise that the next chapter will be _much _funnier. Lots more Doctor Who quotes are on the way! Now please do enjoy!

* * *

It was an unexpected thing, to smell tea. Shikamaru knew the smell by heart; although a coffee-lover himself, his mother made tea three times a day, and herbal peppermint was her favorite. Which was exactly the tea he detected as he and Temari stumbled out of the crack.

Another thing he would never have predicted was for he and Temari to instantly tumble to the ground after taking only one step forward; there was a tiny staircase leading down from the windowsill they'd just walked through and into a wide carpeted dining room, and they hadn't noticed it.

As Temari and Shikamaru groaned on the ground, they looked up, and froze.

There in front of them sat two beautiful people at a delicate table, drinking tea from fancy cups. A woman with long dark hair gasped and put a hand politely to her mouth, while a man across from her, long brown locks up in a ponytail, raised an eyebrow calmly.

Both had the loveliest set of eyes Shikamaru had ever seen, a lavender so light they almost looked white.

"May I help you?" the man asked with a touch of amusement in his voice, looking down haughtily at the two on the ground.

The woman was standing and slowly backing away, her intricate beaded skirt rustling as she cried timidly, "N-Neji, should I get the gun…?"

"No, it's alright, Hinata," Neji said, raising a hand to relax her. "They're humans." Neji stared at Shikamaru interestedly, and Shikamaru felt a shiver run down his spine as Neji said in a monotone, "They're like me…"

"Oh!" Hinata relaxed instantly, and turned to face the two on the ground. "Well then. That makes things clear." She gave them a friendly gesture to the table and said sweetly, "Would you care for some tea?"

Shikamaru and Temari shared a stunned look.

"…Sure."

"Yeah, sounds good."

* * *

"This is delicious!" Temari crossed one leg over the other, seeming refreshed as she sat across from Hinata at the little table. She sipped the tea un-modestly, and Shikamaru glowered at her rudeness; these were classy aliens quite obviously, in fact they seemed more like humans from the Victorian era. The room they were in was decorated in beige, brown and cream, with curtains covering large china windows and glass chandeliers glittering above.

A blue tinge floated in through the cream silk of the blinds that blocked their view outside, and illuminated the crystal knobs on the wooden doors, the shimmering glass goblets stacked in bronze cabinets in the corners.

Shikamaru felt rather comfortable as he looked around and drank his tea as slowly as he could. While not at all like home, this was the kind of place he could fit in. It was easy to slip into the shadows, to be unheard and unnoticed. That was the kind of thing he liked.

But Temari seemed to have no intentions of this, because she wouldn't shut up.

"So. You," she addressed Neji blatantly. "You said that you were like us. Like, human. What does that mean, are you human?"

Neji, across from Shikamaru, gave a small laugh and shook his head. "Oh for goodness sake, no," he said calmly. "I'm not a human being, but…I suppose I could say that I'm from earth…"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Temari queried.

Hinata raised her hand shyly. "I'm sure you're familiar with the cracks…since you did just walk through one." Temari and Shikamaru nodded. "Well, there was an accident…Neji's father, and mother who was pregnant at the time, had the job to inspect cracks, given by the head of the family…" Hinata paused, "_My _family. And…one day, they went through one."

"My mother had me on Earth," Neji continued explaining. "She died after that, and my father soon died later as well, they were unable to cope with the atmosphere."

"I thought the translator helped with that," Temari said, nodding to her wrist, which had the little black dot on it. "Another alien told me that."

Neji nodded. "Well what he didn't tell you was that if _three_ beings go through a crack at one time, the translator will stop working."

"So how did you survive?" Temari asked, eyes wide over the rim of her teacup.

"I was born on the planet," he said, "and so I could adapt to the pressure. My parents…were not so lucky…" He sighed. "It's of no remorse, I never met them. But another man came along and found me. He took me in as his son, and then…"

Hinata glanced at Neji and finished softly, "When Neji was five, his foster father died. And that's when I came…" Hinata drew herself up almost proudly. "I did my research. I discovered someone was missing from my family tree, and while inspecting a crack I found him. So I walked through it, traveled to earth, and took him back to his rightful place in the Hyuuga Empire."

"Oh, 'Empire'." Temari grinned. "How noble."

Hinata gave a small giggle. Shikamaru rolled his eyes, disgusted at her behavior.

"So we're quite used to cracks then," Hinata finished with a friendly nod to Shikamaru and Temari. "And we're very welcome to allow you two a place to stay the night, if need be. Where are you traveling?"

"We're just following someone's footsteps," Shikamaru said loudly, before Temari could interrupt him with something stupid, as per usual. "So we don't really have time to stay the night."

Hinata tilted her head to the side. "Oh? But you _must _stay to have something to eat, at least. You're probably starving!"

It was then that Shikamaru realized he and Temari hadn't eaten or slept since they'd entered the crack. They'd visited three planets, and had only taken the time to bath.

He turned to Temari, who looked gleeful, and sighed. "Yeah, I guess that would be—"

"—Of _course_!"

* * *

"Wow," Temari said contemplatively. "I hadn't realized how hungry I'd been until I tried that pie…"

"That was the single greatest thing I've ever tasted," Shikamaru agreed in a hushed voice.

Both stood in Neji and Hinata's study room. Apparently the Hyuuga family had numerous houses in their complex, and Neji and Hinata owned one together, or so they said during their sharing of Hinata's delicious blueberry pie in the dining room, where the open crack still glittered ominously.

For now, Neji and Hinata were washing the dishes in the kitchen, while their guests took the invitation to occupy themselves in the study.

The study was a large hallway, dark because of the crimson curtains drawn over the tall windows but with pleasant golden lighting illuminating the surroundings from cloth-covered standing lamps. Its well-worn hardwood floors were dotted with comfortable loveseats and cushions, its peach walls were practically blanketed with golden-framed portraits, and the majority of the space was occupied by rows and rows of bookshelves.

Temari could tell that Shikamaru was in a state of bliss; the way he looked at the books was admirable. She wished she could feel what he was feeling…

"Look at all the birds…" Shikamaru said suddenly.

Temari turned her head to the side, and noticed; every single picture frame on the wall had in it a portrait of a bird. "Wow," she observed softly. "I wonder if their family's emblem is a bird."

"Possibly." Temari turned to look at Shikamaru, who ran a finger along the base of a tiny statue of a bird sitting on top of a bookshelf. "I wonder if we can only see them as birds because of the translator," he queried, more to himself than to Temari. "I wonder if they're actually something else."

Temari felt a small smile come to her lips. The look in his eyes…He was so curious, and so intelligent…She could remember when he'd first joined her on this spontaneous quest, and he hadn't wanted to learn anything, he just wanted to get Asuma and go home.

Now, he was interested.

And Temari had never felt more alive, standing next to this clueless boy, never felt more real.

"…Hey…" she murmured.

"Hm?" Shikamaru didn't look at her, but his attention was drawn effectively, so she spoke anyways;

"…Do you—?"

_Ring!_

Temari was cut short when a familiar sound interrupted them. Both she and Shikamaru whipped around in surprise to stare at a golden phone gleaming on a short table in the corner.

"Oh, that's work." Neji suddenly emerged from the curtained doors of the kitchen and into the study. Rolling down his sleeves and wiping his hands on a small handkerchief in his pocket, he crossed the room and picked the receiver up, answering: "Hello?"

Shikamaru and Temari turned to stare at each other. Temari felt herself giggle madly as she whispered excitedly, "They have _phones _here!"

Even Shikamaru laughed a bit beneath his breath, bewildered.

"But of course we have phones here," Hinata said, peeking suddenly around the corner of the kitchen. "How else would we contact each other?" She watched Neji as she spoke, her eyes hard with curiosity.

"He said it was 'work'," Temari gathered slowly. "So Neji…has a job?"

"Oh yes," Hinata said with a friendly nod. "He works with the police force."

Shikamaru's eyes widened. "You have police," he said cautiously.

Temari finished for him what he didn't want to say: "So you have crime."

Hinata nodded. "Well no one is perfect. The police exist to maintain a stable community in the Hyuuga Empire."

"But the Hyuuga's are inbred, you said," Temari recalled. "You're…all family…"

Hinata shrugged sadly. "Sometimes…" She looked down at the floors, and Temari noticed a memory flashing through her pale eyes. Recognition of something old. "Sometimes…" Hinata said again softly, "family doesn't always get along…"

Shikamaru and Temari were both silent. Neji, in the background, spoke into the phone in a muffled tone, voice inaudible.

Hinata cleared her throat, and her head bobbed back up. "And besides," she continued quickly, as if trying to cover her tracks, "we're not the only ones inhabiting this planet."

"What do you mean?" Shikamaru asked.

"Well there is another species…They rarely come out, and never cause trouble, but they're…Well, I've heard that they're…" She clasped her hands together guiltily. "…not too friendly…" she continued uncertainly.

Temari laughed at that. "I guess it's good you don't run into them often. And I guess you don't get _too _much crime, right?"

Hinata nodded. "Yes, but…it's odd…" She gazed at Neji over Temari's shoulder. "He usually doesn't get calls from work at this time of day…"

They watched as Neji nodded into the phone. "Yes…I understand, I'll be right there."

He hung the phone up, and turned to look at Hinata. Even Temari could recognize the worry in his expression. "I'm sorry, I have to leave…"

"Wh…What? You have to leave?" Hinata rounded the corner, wiping her hands on her apron. "But…Why?"

"It's very important," Neji said, snatching a bundle of something off a side table. "Otherwise I…wouldn't." He coughed at the last part, and Temari caught a small blush on his face.

"But what is it, Neji?" Hinata insisted timidly, taking a few steps forward.

Neji looked her in the eyes, but did not answer. "I'll be right back."

"W…Wait!" As Neji walked away Hinata cried, "Be careful!" behind him.

Temari thought she could see a small smile on his face before he rounded the corner out of sight, leaving the other three alone in silence.

"I'm…guessing this doesn't happen often…" Shikamaru said slowly.

Hinata put her fingers to her lips. "No," she murmured. "It doesn't."

* * *

Temari had no idea Shikamaru was so interested in books. He was currently sitting comfortably in one of the chairs in the study, reading away to his heart's content, while Hinata showed Temari around one of the other hallways. It was a large house, and Temari knew she wouldn't have the time to see all of it. But at least while Shikamaru wasn't there to hold her back she figured she'd ask a few questions.

"So you and Neji," Temari said casually as the two women strode through the hallway of picture frames and potted plants. "Did it take a while to warm up to each other?" Hinata looked at Temari inquiringly, and she shrugged. "You seem to get along pretty well."

Hinata nodded. "It did take some time for Neji to become accustomed to life on this planet," she said slowly. "And to tell the truth…I think he hated me at first…"

"Aw," Temari laughed as Hinata rubbed her arm sheepishly.

Hinata sighed. "But the way I feel, Temari…" she said softly. "Even when I knew he hated me…I've always loved seeing him happy…"

Temari smiled a bit. "I know how you feel, Hinata," she said slowly.

But Hinata shook her head rapidly. "Oh, no, I'm nothing like you. You're so strong and outgoing, I'm far too timid…" She fidgeted with her fingers. "Too much so to do anything for Neji…"

Temari tilted her head to the side curiously. "Well that's no excuse to give up on Neji. It's just a little obstacle, right? It's just your personality."

"No, it's more than that," Hinata insisted gently, shaking her head. "He…He means…a lot to me…"

Temari smirked. "Oh really?" Hinata blushed furiously, and Temari giggled. "Well how did you get to where you are now? Maybe just keeping up what you've been doing already will help you get closer to him."

Hinata tilted her head to the side thoughtfully. "Well…I suppose that technique _is _working, and it all started as soon as I met him."

"Do tell," Temari prodded eagerly.

Hinata laughed a bit. "Well…I had to spend some time training, to accustom myself to Earth's atmosphere before I stepped through. And when I finally got through, I was used to the culture, the society, and I could blend in perfectly. But I didn't expect it to be so beautiful…" Temari smiled. "I was in…what you call Paris, France."

Temari gasped. "Get _out_!" she cried. "I've always wanted to go there!"

Hinata giggled, and held up a golden chain around her neck. The charm on the end was a diamond-engraved emblem of the Ifle Tower. "I got this as a souvenir there." She blushed a bit and added, "Neji bought it for me…"

"Ah," Temari gathered cheerfully, "So you guys hit it off right away."

"At first, yes, we got along quite well," Hinata confirmed. "But then when I told him everything, and showed him his real world, he just got moodier and more distant…Overtime, I almost lost hope with him, as I tried to train him into life on this new planet. But after he got that job at the police force, and after I…had a talk with him, he's…he's changed…"

A certain fondness flooded over Hinata's eyes as she murmured, "He's definitely changed for the better. And he looks so much happier now. And the light in his eyes, whenever he sees me…"

"Hey…" Temari and Hinata turned at a sudden voice to see Shikamaru peering around the hallway. There was a strange glint in his eyes, and he was watching Temari closely, as if searching for a reaction. "Temari, have you looked outside yet?"

Temari raised an eyebrow. "No. Why?"

Shikamaru grinned a bit. "Hinata, would you mind?"

Hinata giggled. "Not at all."

* * *

"No…way…" were the only words that escaped Temari's mouth as Hinata slowly drew back the curtained glass doors leading out into their courtyard.

The first thing she and Shikamaru looked at as they took very slow steps outside was the sky. And it wasn't a sky. It was glass. They were standing beneath a gigantic glass dome. And outside of it, was water. Temari only knew it was because of the shadows and mirages that reflected wickedly through the glass. The light that bathed them was a whitish-blue, and around them swam a beautiful fog of silver.

And the glass was surrounded by humongous plantations of seaweed. Temari had never seen anything so green and so big, not even the tower of weeds at the Yamanakan's. It danced in the water and enchanted her in thick, dark green waves.

"Temari, look, this is what I was talking to you about!" Shikamaru said suddenly. "Look at the birds!" Temari glanced over at where he was pointing beyond the glass, and her mouth fell open.

Outside the glass, in the water, swam a bird. If on earth, Temari would have sworn it was a swan, what with its long neck and shining white feathers. But here she didn't know how to classify it. The water did nothing to strain its movement, it glided through it with natural ease. Bubbles escaped its beak as it glanced down at them, and then it simply swam away again into the seaweed.

Temari shook her head, finding herself laughing with glee. "This is…_No _way!"

"This is _ridiculous_," Shikamaru agreed breathlessly, trying not to laugh himself.

Hinata giggled at their reactions. "I was the same way when I saw Earth. But yes, here it's the opposite. Here, the birds swim above…and the fish fly below…"

"Wait…" Shikamaru held up a hand. "So you're saying…"

Hinata frowned thoughtfully. "Why don't I show you?" She held up a hand, and immediately a tiny fish came darting through thin air and over to her, almost out of nowhere.

Temari had to cover her mouth with her hands so she didn't squeal. "This is impossible," she cried ecstatically, poking Shikamaru's arm, who was just as excited, although much more calm about it. She could tell he was happy, though. The glimmer in his eyes; it was beautiful.

They watched the fish as Hinata patted it very gently through the air from one hand to the other, then she flicked it lightly away so it could swim off around the side of their estate. She turned to the other two. "Neji and I always end up feeding the fish when they come to us, so they never hesitate to fly over."

"This is just…way too much…" Shikamaru said, shaking his head, but a smile was floating in his lips that Temari could detect almost _too _easily.

"It's amazing," Temari decided out loud, feeling giddy and unable to tear her eyes away from the glass sky, and the water outside of it. "And it's beautiful, and…Wait, what's that?"

The three of them stared in confusion at the sight of something falling through the air and down into the courtyard.

Hinata gasped in shock as it landed with a thump in front of them. "Oh my goodness!" she cried. "It's a bird!"

"But…But how did it get in here?" Temari asked, concerned as they stared at the large, white, wet bird lying on the stones in front of them. "Can it breathe?"

"W-Well sometimes they're known to find ways through the glass, but they can't breathe our air!" Hinata said nervously. "We have to help it!"

The woman darted over, long dark hair flying behind her with her beaded skirt, and she knelt down to gently lift the sopping bird into her arms.

Shikamaru went to open the doors for them, and they all went inside and into the kitchen as fast as they could.

Hinata set the bird into the sink, and ran water over it. "They say this is the first thing you have to do when you see a fallen bird," she explained distractedly as she let the water run over the poor creature and scurried about the kitchen to fetch a large glass bowl.

Temari walked over to the sink and peered in at the bird as Hinata prepared the bowl, filling it to the brim with water. It was, again, almost identical to a swan, but she could see a blue diamond on its head. Its eyes flickered open suddenly as the water rushed over it, and Temari smiled. They were a gorgeous, bright green.

"Here, it's ready." Hinata came behind her and grasped the bird gently, lifting it out of the sink and plopping it into the water of the bowl. It sank to the bottom in the water, bubbles streaming out of its mouth, but it looked much calmer and more comfortable despite the cramped space, so Hinata and Temari both let out happy sighs of relief.

"He's so pretty," Temari declared as the three in the kitchen watched it turn itself around in the water with a wing. "We should name him."

"You don't even know if it's a he," Shikamaru muttered, but she ignored that, because she'd spotted something strange on Hinata.

"…Hinata, what's that on your hands…?"

Hinata blinked and looked down at herself, and her eyes widened in surprise. Her hands were covered with a green goo. "Oh my," she said, holding her hands up to the light. "I didn't even notice!"

"It's from the bird," Shikamaru said. The two women looked where he was pointing; out of a large gash in the birds stomach could be seen through the distorting glass of the bowl a green sort of substance, floating away into the water.

"Is…Is that the bird's blood…?" Temari wondered, slightly disturbed.

"Bird's blood is usually blue or red," Hinata disagreed quietly, shaking her head. "My goodness…I wonder what's wrong with it…"

"Do you have, like, animal control or something…?" Shikamaru asked awkwardly. "I mean, you have a phone and all…"

"Yes, we do, in fact I should call them right away," Hinata said, nodding and turning to grab a hand towel.

But before they could even discuss that matter, the phone rang instead. Hinata blinked in surprise and after wiping her hands fairly clean she ran out of the room. Shikamaru and Temari followed her into the study, where she picked up the phone. Temari stayed silent and strained her ears to overhear.

"Hello?"

"_H…Hinata…"_

Temari blinked. That was Neji's voice, clear as day. There were loud bangs and explosions blasting faintly in the background like thunder, and Neji sounded strained.

"Neji?" Hinata was obviously very worried. "Where are you, what's going on?"

"_I don't have time to explain, but Hinata, listen to me; Stay inside, don't go outside under any circumstances. Stay inside."_

"B-But, Neji! Are you alright?" Hinata clutched the phone with shaking fingers. Temari and Shikamaru shared a look.

"_Backup is coming, I'll be fine, but you have to stay inside, Hinata—"_

"But are you _alright_—"

"—_Hinata, promise me!"_

Hinata closed her eyes. "I…I promise…"

Temari could hear Neji's sigh of relief. _"It's here…It's what we knew would come, Hinata. But maybe…I can still save you from it."_

"…Neji...P-please…Are you alright?"

He didn't answer. _"Remember, stay inside. And…stay away from the birds."_

Hinata blinked in surprise. Shikamaru and Temari glanced at each other again, worried. "What…?"

"_I have to go…Please, be careful!"_

"No! But Neji—"

"—_It's alright, Hinata. It's okay. I won't let them get you, I swear I—"_

And at that, the line went dead. Temari recognized the familiar, frustrating buzzing noise, and Hinata slowly and wearily set the phone back down. She looked scared, and upset beyond all reason, so Temari hurried over to give the girl a hug.

"It's okay, Hinata, he said backup was on the way. I know he'll be fine," Temari reassured her as warmly as she could.

Hinata wiped away a few tears and nodded, choking back a fit of petrified weeping. "I know. I just…I j-just hate n-not being there _with _him…" She let a little sob escape her throat, and Temari squeezed her tight.

"Then we'll have to change that, right?" she said slyly.

Hinata blinked away her tears, and turned her wet face up to look at her. "…Wh-What?"

"Well, Neji can't expect you to just sit around here, isolated, waiting and hoping that backup will find its way to him while you can't do a thing!" Temari insisted. "Hinata, this could be the best way to show Neji show much you really want to make him happy!"

Hinata stared at Temari. "B-But Neji said—"

"—Oh who cares what Neji said?" Temari rolled her eyes. "You can't follow _every _order he gives you. Think for yourself once in a while, Hinata!"

"Temari, can I talk to you?" Temari turned over her shoulder to Shikamaru, who was glowering at her expectantly. "In private, just for a second?"

Temari raised an eyebrow. "Whatever, princess." Shikamaru glared at her as she walked over, then grasped her arm tightly and wrenched her out of the room and into the kitchen.

"Alright, time to go," Shikamaru declared immediately.

Temari felt her mouth drop open. "_What_? Are you _joking_?"

"Yes, I'm just being incredibly sarcastic."

"I can't believe you!" Temari cried under her breath. "Hinata's _crying _in the other room, and something really terrible is happening out there, and you want to just _leave_?"

"I didn't come here to save Hyuuga Empires or aquatic birds with green blood," Shikamaru snapped. "I have something else on my mind, in case you've forgotten."

"Well I know that, but we _can't _go! Hinata's really worried!"

"Yes, I get it! And I _know _that look in your eye, Temari, you're thinking of doing something really stupid like going outside to find Neji and getting us into another load of the bullshit, but I have to say, I have had _enough _of the bullshit, I'd rather not have to _deal_ with the bullshit again—"

"—It isn't _bullshit_, Shikamaru, it's being _human_!"

"They _aren't _human, Temari!" He grasped her wrist tightly. "Listen to me closely; We are _not _staying!"

"So what, you think you can just say something and it goes?"

Shikamaru held out his hands, as if putting two and two together, and said, "Shikamaru, genius, _yeah_!"

"Temari, above average, _no_!" she backfired furiously, her anger reaching a boiling point. Punching him in the arm as hard as she could for emphasis she yelled, "I don't give a _damn _what you say, _genius_, we're _staying_!"

Shikamaru blinked in surprise. Apparently he hadn't expected a retort of so much rage that it would force a bruise to raise on his arm and make the pots and pans ring.

"T…Temari, Shikamaru…" They both turned into the doorway of the kitchen, where a determined-looking Hinata stood. "I've decided…I'm going outside, to look for Neji…"

Temari grinned. "Way to go, Hinata! We'll come with you!" She sent Shikamaru a deathly glare before he could protest.

But Hinata rounded the doorway and shook her head. "No, I'm afraid I can't let you," she protested gently. "You see…I…I know what's going to happen out there…"

Temari and Shikamaru both watched her, confused. "What do you mean?" Shikamaru asked slowly.

Hinata stared at them sadly. "There was a race," she said softly, "who visited our world years ago. They were a race of psychics. And they wrote the future of the Hyuuga Empire in a book, a book which my father now keeps…" Hinata closed her eyes. "It was written that this was how our world would end."

"How?" Temari asked, shocked.

"It will start with the birds falling from the sky," Hinata recited softly. "The police force will be eliminated. A plague will spread. And then…" She opened her eyes and stared at Temari and Shikamaru sternly. "It's inevitable. Everyone in the Hyuuga Empire. We're all going to die."

Temari felt her chest tighten. This couldn't be true. The Hyuuga's knew this was going to happen the entire time? "But…"

"I'm sorry if it bothers you," Hinata continued. "But you two still have a chance to live. You don't belong here. I can't let you die here if you can still get away."

"But wait, how do you _know _you're going to die?" Shikamaru queried.

"It was written—"

"—Well yeah, but what do you _know_?" Shikamaru repeated. Hinata stared at him, confused, and Shikamaru sighed. "I can't believe this. More psychos."

"I'm sorry?"

"Shikamaru, don't be so mean!" Temari hissed, unable to believe he was being so cruel at a moment like this.

But Shikamaru had that look in his eyes again. Temari felt herself get a little weaker just seeing it. It was defensive, wary, and awkward. So fitting to his dopey personality. And yet so different. So strong. Something was there that she just couldn't place.

"You guys act like you can't do anything, that destiny says everything for you, huh?"

Hinata bit her lip. "That's…That's what Neji says, actually…" she said softly.

"Load of bullshit." Shikamaru stuffed his hands in his pockets. "I can't believe you're going to hunker down and just accept the fact that you're going to die. I would be way to freaked out to do that. I mean you don't _want _to die, do you?"

"Well of course not, but it's inevitable—"

"_Nothing _is inevitable." Shikamaru frowned sternly at Hinata. "Listen; You _have _free will you're just too afraid to face it! And I get it, trust me. I get scared, really easily. I get scared by _this _girl here." He flicked Temari on the shoulder, who blinked. "But that doesn't mean I don't stand up to her."

"Wh…What are you suggesting I-I do then…?" Hinata whispered timidly.

Shikamaru stared at her. And then he heaved a long sigh. "…Me and Temari…" he said slowly, "are going to come with you to find Neji. So I can prove to you, _both _of you idiots, that you can still change the future _yourselves_. Following the practices of a book is not going to help you, in fact it just might be the thing that will kill you in the end."

Shikamaru glanced at Temari, who was staring at him, wide-eyed. She couldn't believe it. He changed his mind so fast?

"That is," Shikamaru finished, "if you're up for it, Temari."

Temari felt a small grin form on her face. It didn't matter, really. She was still here. And so was he.

"Definitely."

She turned to Hinata, hands on her hips. "Well then, Hinata. We're all yours." She and Shikamaru shared a smirk as she said, "Where do you wanna go first?"

And for the first time, Hinata showed them her smile. And it was brighter than starlight.

* * *

N E X T ;

She was like a p o i s o n to his mind.

"_I won't be there for you anymore…"_

And seeing these people falling for each other,  
really made him question his relationship with her.

"_I will never let her down."_

He couldn't stop thinking about her.  
And how much he wanted to touch her.  
**There was something he needed to realize.**

—


End file.
